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David Blanchflower: get young people working

Interesting to read esteemed labour economist David Blanchflower’s article in the Mirror, in which he urges the Government to do more to get the UK’s young people back into work.

Blanchflower recently hit headlines following his scathing attack on Tory spending plans unveiled by shadow chancellor George Osborne at last week’s Conservative Party conference, saying that too many cuts too soon could plunge the country into depression.

But he also accuses the Government of “tinkering at the edges” of the issue of rising unemployment levels, and calls for Gordon Brown to do more to help those out of work.

The statistics are dire. The number of unemployed people has increased every month since the beginning of 2008. Nearly 2.5 million are now out of work- a staggering increase of 870,000 since the recession began.

Critically, there are now almost a million young people, aged 16 to 24, out of work.

Blanchflower rightly highlights the vulnerability of young people during recession, stating “spells of unemployment, especially if they are of long duration, scar the young for life in a way they don’t for older people”.

Lets hope the Government heeds his call.