Clegg's New Deal for Kids!

So I see that our inestimable deputy-Prime Minister has 'thought up' a new scheme for getting jobs for young people. They are going to pay employers to take them on and this will give young people who have had no chance to gain experience an opportunity to learn a trade or industry. The employer will receive a subsidy from the government to pay the young person's wages (for 6 months anyway) and everyone is a winner!

Sorry, must just clear up where the sarcasm has dripped off that last sentence!

I left school in the 80s - a time when the unemployment total just seemed to rise and rise. I was also a 'worker' on the old Youth Training Scheme, where the government paid employers to take on young people to give them work experience. 

What happened??? The employers took on the young person under the scheme, (who wouldnt want a free full time worker??) at the end of the year the young person was given a 'certificate' to prove they had done it and were shunted off to the next one. Employers very rarely actually kept the young person on and I spent a year working full time for £25 per week! I know it was the 80s but even then that was ridiculous. 

So why are the government trying this 'by any other name' scheme again? Because what they actually want to do is get 500,000 young people off the unemployed register and out of the statistics. It isn't about getting jobs for people - there ARE no jobs - its about making the government look better!

My opinion?? It didnt work then and it wont work now. Young people will take up these 'courses' or 'jobs' because they are desperate. Employers will fail to keep the young person on and the unemployment figures will come down. But there will be as many people without work as before - they will just be off doing something low paid that will prevent them claiming unemployment benefit. 

Cynical?? Its my middle name...!!

Anita 'Cynical' Kelly

Belfast