Alison McGovern: My concern over young people unemployment statistics

Sep 21 2011 Bromborough & Bebington News

LIKE my constituents, I am deeply concerned by the latest statistics which indicate that young people in the UK are more likely to be unemployed and out of education than in countries such as Slovenia, Estonia, Slovakia and Hungary.

The vast majority of young people want to work and it is essential that the government ensures there is adequate access to jobs as well as investment in skills and training so that those with the motivation to work are not denied the opportunity.

The situation is clearly untenable and yet, as I have found out from Parliamentary Questions the Tory-led government’s only plan is to reduce the proportion of unemployed young people by less than 1 percentage point over by 2015, effectively abandoning the next generation.

If the government is serious about this vital issue, they urgently need to reverse the programme of cuts that has led them to this sorry statistic. Scrapping the Education Maintenance Allowance and Future Jobs Fund while tripling university fees and cutting places, means that, in the last three months alone, the number of unemployed school-leavers rose by 78,000 to 973,000.

Fantastic initiatives that were in place such as the guarantee of an apprenticeship for every 16-18 year old who wants one have been discarded without consideration of the damage being caused to the prospects of school-leavers looking to the future.

People of all ages are struggling to provide for themselves through no fault of their own; we on Merseyside know the effect this has on communities and the disillusionment it can cause. This is not what we should be leaving to our young people.

I will continue to fight this government on these issues at every opportunity as I believe the people of Wirral deserve a successful future.