Unemployment is a hole. The further you go in, the harder it is to climb out.
We’ve seen the damage it can wreak on young people’s confidence and their mindset.
There’s even evidence of a “scarring effect” on future wages from being unemployed for a long period.
For all these reasons, we cautiously welcome the Chancellor’s plan to guarantee a paid work placement to young people on Universal Credit who’ve been out of work or education for 18 months.
Over half of the UK’s 948,000 young people who aren’t earning or learning have never had a job. So, this could offer some much-needed experience.
But if this initiative is to lead to young people thriving in sustained employment, there are crucial questions the government needs to answer. Among them:
Will placements be in sectors that each young person wants to work in, and may have skills in?
What support will there be for young people’s mindset and confidence, after 18 months of feeling their potential isn’t valued?
Today, we opened the doors to two new Spear Centres – in St Helens and in York. We’ve received a warm welcome in both areas from young people, Jobcentres and other services.
We’ve refined The Spear Programme over two decades to ensure it equips young people for work, by coaching over 11,000 of them in skills, confidence and mindset.
That’s why it works – 75% of those who finish Spear get into work or education and are still there a year later.
The government’s new plan will cater for just one group of those who aren’t earning or learning. The UK’s young people need many other initiatives, too.
We’ll do all we can to ensure these plans lead to sustained employment for young people - work where they can thrive. They and all of us will benefit from unlocking their potential.