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Resort eyes apprentice scheme
JOBS are to be created in one of North Yorkshire's worst unemployment blackspots by a modern apprenticeship scheme which aims to recruit candidates who will eventually replace many members of a council's ageing workforce.
Many Scarborough Council staff are only 10 years from retirement and jobs could soon need to be filled in services ranging from gardening to planning.
The council has drawn up a scheme to attract more young people.
Coun Tim Lawn, who chairs a task group set up to examine the youth unemployment problem, said: "With an ageing workforce and few young people choosing to work in local authorities, we were keen to investigate the council's policies for recruiting and developing young people.
"Not only are we confident that it will benefit the council but we believe that it will also be highly beneficial to the community and, in particular, young people."
Historically, Scarborough Council was a major employer of young people as cafe workers, deckchair, boating lake and car park attendants and other jobs which disappeared as more services were moved into the private sector or staffing was cut to the bone because of tighter budgets.
Now the council wants to target young people not continuing full-time education, who are finding themselves increasingly at a disadvantage in a job market which favours skilled people.
Today councillors will be asked to approve an apprenticeship programme to be advertised in the new year, with schemes starting in September 2009, after the task group's research underlined the low skill level of many jobseekers, who were way below NVQ level.
Manufacturing and tourism related jobs were above the national average but few businesses were starting up in the area and many employers were small firms who did not want to invest in apprenticeship schemes because they would not get an immediate return.
Local authorities such as the North York Moors National Park have started their own and even though weekly wages are only 100 young people have been happy to sign on.
North Yorkshire County Council also set up a scheme because of its ageing workforce. When launched in 2006 it attracted an initial 70 apprentices and even though they were only earning 80 a week only four ended up quitting.
The next year 120 placements were offered and were also snapped up, saving the authority more than 6,000 on recruitment costs such as advertising vacancies.
According to the task group's report being considered today, fewer than a third of Scarborough Council's employees are under 24, with the majority aged 25-49 and many over 50 or 55.
But while 7,000 people are out of work or on benefits in Scarborough town alone potentially there are hundreds of desk jobs and manual posts which would be suitable for apprentices.
Officials say most services provided by the council would be suitable for the placements, particularly parks and gardens, general administration, customer care, planning and accountancy.
Although the council had been advised to "start small" with perhaps four to six apprentices per service Coun Lawn said something needed to be done on the youth opportunities front to stop young people leaving the area after dropping out of education.
He added: "A lot of jobs in the area are low-paid and house prices are beyond the means of many people. We are aware that some people fail at college as it was not the right choice for them and they would be more suited to an apprenticeship scheme."
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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