Giving hope to unemployed young people

The symbolic and evocative "dole queue" could be consigned to history. I was unemployed for almost a year during the deep recession of the early 1980s. But I used my time gainfully and my main problem was lack of money. The unemployed young people at the youth club experienced boredom, fatalism, sometimes despair and often a lack of hope. But at least they knew they were not alone: the dole queue testified to that.

We went to sign on together every fortnight. Professional and Executive Recruitment, where I went, was upstairs at the Jobcentre with nice chairs, a carpeted floor, and very courteous staff. After processing, I joined the queue downstairs. We sat patiently on long benches with torn covers peppered with cigarette burns. The young people, unqualified and unskilled, vaguely hoped something would turn up. But their conversation always revolved around discussing how they would "kill" another day. This had a huge impact on me. I was still very busy. They had no idea at all what to do each day. It was the start of my development of "daytime work with the young unemployed": another job for me, though I was also unemployed.