Dominic Grieve MP: More support for young job seekers

Dec 22 2011 by Jack Abell, Buckinghamshire Advertiser

At THIS time of year there will inevitably be some young people who have only one wish. This will be that they will find a job in the New Year and get their future career underway.

There has been a claim that long-term youth unemployment has risen by 80 per cent. This is not so: under previous policies, some young people on training allowances or in temporary employment were not included in the figures.

Taking this into account, the number of long-term claimants who are in the 18-24 age group is about the same as it was at the time of the 2010 election.

However, those numbers are still far too high.

At the end of November, a new Youth Contract was drawn up, which provides extra help for unemployed young people.

There will be more intensive support for all 18-24 year olds. This gives extra access to advisers, work experience and sector-based work academy places.

The vulnerable group of young people, those who are not in education, employment or training, need special help to bring them into learning, into an apprenticeship or a job with training. There is extra funding available to assist 16 and 17-year olds in this situation. The programme is worth £150million.

Enabling employers to take on new staff will play a key part in helping our economy to grow and create more jobs.

There are 160,000 wage incentives to make this step simpler for businesses. One wage incentive, under the Work Programme, provides £2,275 to employers taking on a young person. That covers the cost of the employer’s National Insurance Contributions for employing a young worker for a year.

The Work Programme began in June. Its outcomes are beginning to be reported now. Over half of those young people who had taken part in the Work Experience programme had left benefits within about a month of finishing the placement.

I hope that 2012 will bring that chance to many more young people.

May I wish all constituents the very best for the coming New Year.