JUST 15 months after being appointed, Rachel Reeves has already achieved the dubious distinction of becoming the least-popular Chancellor in the past half-century.
Given that other contenders include Denis Healey, who imposed a top rate of income tax of 83 per cent and yet still had to beg the IMF for a bailout, and Norman Lamont, who occupied Number 11 when Britain crashed out of the Exchange Rate Mechanism, it is a pretty impressive achievement.
The Chancellor committed herself to what she called the ‘abolition of long term youth unemployment’ at the Labour Party Conference[/caption]
The rise in youth unemployment in recent years is a tragedy, which has received scant attention[/caption]
Reeves’ speech to the Labour Party conference yesterday will have done little to endear herself either to the public or to the party faithful.
But there was one announcement that does deserve to be taken seriously.
The Chancellor committed herself to what she called the “abolition of long-term youth unemployment”.
Every young person who has been out of work for 18 months or more will be offered a paid work placement, she said, which would mean “real work, practical experience”.
She didn’t quite say how long these work placements would last — will they get a fortnight’s work experience or a foot in the door towards a genuine long-term job? And why the 18-month wait?
If young people are struggling to get a job it would be good to get them into some kind of work straight away.
Reeves is not wrong to point a finger at the previous government
Ross
Nevertheless, if Reeves really did succeed in reducing economic inactivity among young people it would be a legacy of which she could be proud.
The rise in youth unemployment in recent years is a tragedy, which has received scant attention.
In the second quarter of this year 12.8 per cent of 16-to-24-year olds were classified as NEET (not in employment, education or training).
That is nearly a million people who should be setting out on rewarding careers but are instead idle and in danger of falling into a lifetime of unemployment.
For their sake, and for the health of the economy, it should be an absolute priority to get these people started on their working lives.
And for once, Reeves is not wrong to point a finger at the previous government.
Having steadily reduced the number of NEETs between 2011 and 2019, the last government took its eye off the ball after the pandemic.
Young males, especially, have been dropping out of the workforce.
There are now more NEET men than women, a shift from historical pattern.
Yet while we should applaud Reeves’ ambition, the sad truth is that many government policies are making it harder for employers to create the jobs which could help young people get into work.
In Labour’s first year in power, the number of payrolled jobs fell by 142,000.
This reversed what had previously been a strong rise in employment, and Reeves’ paw prints are all over it.
The Government has failed to explain what it is going to do to tackle that other great destroyer of jobs for young people: mass migration
Ross
When she hiked employers’ National Insurance Contributions (NICs) in her budget last October, businesses warned that it would mean fewer jobs, and that is exactly what has happened.
Crucially, the jobs that have gone are the low-skilled ones in retail and hospitality that young people need to get started in their careers.
The NI rise has been especially harmful to part-time employment, given that the threshold for paying NICs was reduced from £9,100 a year to just £5,000, dragging many part-timers into the net.
Those who have lost out include young people who need part-time employment to support their studies.
The Government has failed to explain what it is going to do to tackle that other great destroyer of jobs for young people: mass migration.
If Reeves really did succeed in reducing economic inactivity among young people it would be a legacy of which she could be proud[/caption]
The “Boriswave” of migrant labour has brought hundreds of thousands of foreign workers in to do jobs that could and should be done by Britain’s NEETs.
In 2023 alone, the Government granted 106,000 health and social care visas, including dependents.
Sadly, we have a generation of idlers who have learned to take advantage of lax rules, often egged on by TikTok influencers
Ross
Too many employers have been tempted to take the easy route of bringing ready-trained overseas staff to do jobs rather than investing in training a British school or college-leaver.
Generation of idlers
While many young people would be willing to work if they could find a job, there is a hardcore of people who have played the benefits system to get signed off “on the sick” on the pretext of suffering from depression and anxiety.
Depression can be a serious life-threatening illness, but does anyone really believe that the number of young people too afflicted to work has risen fourfold since before the pandemic, which is what the Government’s statistics show?
Sadly, we have a generation of idlers who have learned to take advantage of lax rules, often egged on by TikTok influencers.
They get away with it, because, since the pandemic, most Work Capability Assessments have been carried out over the phone or online, rather than face to face.
Until the Government starts boosting the confidence of beaten-down businesses, tackles migration and steps in to stop abuse of the welfare system, Reeves is going to struggle to realise her ambition of ending long-term youth unemployment.
She and her colleagues need to instigate what in Tony Blair’s day used to be called “joined-up government”.
Until the Govt starts boosting business confidence, tackles migration and steps in to stop abuse of the welfare system, Reeves is going to struggle to realise her ambition[/caption]
