Government to invest £1bn in training and jobs for young people
Saturday, 26 November 2011 02:42
The government has unveiled plans to invest £1 billion in subsidised work and training to help young people.
The latest official unemployment figures revealed that the number of 16-24 year-olds out of work topped the one million mark for the first time since the 1980’s in the three months to the end of September.
Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister has announced that the government will provide subsidies to employers worth £2,275 to take on 160,000 18-24 year-olds for six months.
Additionally, 250,000 young people, including all 18-24 year-olds who want a placement and have been unemployed for three months or more will be offered work experience placements for up to eight weeks.
The plans also include 20,000 additional incentive payments for companies to offer apprenticeships to 16-24 year-olds and more support for young people at job centres.
£50 million will be invested in helping 25,000 of the most disadvantaged 16 and 17 year-olds who are not at college or in employment. The funds are likely to be allocated directly to employers, though this has yet to be confirmed.
The government says that the £1 billion is new money, not existing funds that are being reallocated from other projects. When questioned on where the funds will come from, Mr Clegg told Radio 4’s Today programme that the money will come from savings in a variety of areas and more details will be announced by the Chancellor, George Osborne in his autumn financial statement on Tuesday.
The training schemes will be run in a way that penalises people that drop out of the schemes by stopping their benefits. The training schemes and support programmes will begin in April and will cover a variety of sectors.
Mr Clegg said: "The aim of the Youth Contract is to get every unemployed young person earning or learning again before long term damage is done.
"This is a £1bn package and what's different about it, is it gets young people into proper, lasting jobs in the private sector.
"But it's a contract, a two-way street: if you sign up for the job, they'll be no signing on for the dole. You have to stick with it."
The Labour Party said that the new programme offered less than their future jobs fund policy when they were in power and questioned where the money would come from.
John Cridland, CBI Director-General, said: "This is good news for young people up and down the country.
"We're pleased that the Government has developed our idea to incentivise businesses to take on the young unemployed.
"It will encourage firms to take a gamble on a young inexperienced person and help tackle the scourge of youth unemployment."
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