Britain’s youth at risk of becoming ‘lost generation’, Labour peer David Blunkett warns Keir Starmer
Young people in Britain risk becoming a “lost generation” if youth unemployment does not improve, Labor MP Sir Keir Starmer has warned.
It came after the new analysis Guard It shows that almost half of the jobs lost since Labor came to power have been among those aged under 25.
Unemployment in England rose to the highest level in nearly five years after Office for National Statistics (ONS) data showed a higher-than-expected rise to 5 per cent in the three months to September.
New figures show the crisis is driven by a rapid decline in opportunities for young people. According to the newspaper, 46 percent of the 170,000 jobs that have disappeared since June last year are among people under the age of 25.
Former Labor education minister David Blunkett warned the prime minister that an entire generation was likely to be let down by the lack of opportunity under his watch.
“I think we all need to take action together. This is a lost generation and if we don’t do something now the consequences will be devastating economically, socially and personally,” he said.
Around 948,000 young people in Britain, around one in eight people aged 18-24 – not in education, employment or training – are classed as ‘Neets’. Official figures released this week show 137,000 young people have been unemployed for more than 12 months; This is the highest level in the last decade.
Ministers are preparing for the possibility that the number of “Neets” could rise above one million when new figures are announced on Thursday. Guard.
At the Labor Party conference in September, chancellor Rachel Reeves launched a “youth guarantee” scheme aimed at lifting young people out of unemployment.
The program will provide employment to anyone between the ages of 18 and 21 who has been unemployed for 18 months. If young people refuse to take a job without a reasonable excuse, they will face sanctions such as loss of social benefits.
When announcing the policy, he promised it would be “nothing short of eliminating long-term youth unemployment”.
Ms Reeves is set to lay out the funding for the policy in next week’s budget. But it faces intense scrutiny from markets and politicians alike as it moves towards policies to fill an estimated £30bn gap in the public finances.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride attacked Ms Reeves and laid the blame for the “lost generation” at her feet. “The lost generation is in the hands of the chancellor,” he said. “You can’t get more young people into work by punishing the businesses that hire them.”
