Call for action as Yorkshire shamed by ‘lost generation’ of jobless youths

It come amid fears of a fresh surge in youth unemployment this summer.

A new study published this morning by the IPPR North think-tank warns the gulf between the rest of the UK and Yorkshire, where 20 per cent of young people are now classed as NEET – not in employment, education or training – compared with just 12 per cent in the South East, and 14 per cent in London, could widen as school leavers enter the depressed jobs market.

The report says the problem is more acute in Yorkshire than anywhere else in England, with the proportion of NEETs outstripping the North West, North East and West Midlands.

It comes on the second day of a Yorkshire Post investigation into the youth unemployment crisis gripping the region.

Today local police chiefs hail figures which have shown crime continuing to fall throughout the economic crisis, with fears of an unemployment-fuelled crimewave so far largely unfounded.

But one senior officer warns it is becoming “increasingly difficult” to maintain the current trend with police seeing their budgets slashed along with those of probation services, local councils and other partners in the fight against crime.

Youth unemployment has been rising throughout the recession, and fears are growing that a ‘lost generation’ of young people is being created who will never get the chance to fulfil their potential.

On Saturday it was revealed an estimated 100,000 people aged 18 to 14 are now classed as unemployed in Yorkshire. Most worrying is a hardcore of more than 7,000 local youngsters who have been trapped on the dole for over a year. That figure has soared from just 1,700 a year ago, although the Government insists changes in the way benefits are handed out means the true scale of the problem was previously being disguised.

Today’s report by the IPPR makes clear Yorkshire is being hit harder than anywhere else in the country and action

“There needs to be a joint effort to prevent a big spike in NEETs numbers,” said IPPR director Ed Cox. “Schools need to encourage their students to stay on where they can, colleges need to make extra efforts to recruit next year’s intake, public sector employers need to promote work experience schemes, but above all, employers need to take on apprentices through the various schemes now available.”

When the scale of the economic crisis first became clear, there were widespread fears the unemployment spike would lead to soaring crime levels. Crime, however, has continued to fall, with police chiefs hailing improved ways of working within neighbourhoods and alongside other agencies such as councils and the probation services as being key to holding pushing crime down.

Det Supt Scott Young of Humberside Police said: ““We do have high levels of unemployment and deprivation. We know these factors contribute to offending behaviour but we work hard to tackle some of the root causes.

“The number of young people being arrested in Hull is falling because we make these early interventions. It’s about targeting your resources effectively.”

In South Yorkshire, where areas such as Barnsley and Doncaster suffer some of the highest levels of youth unemployment, a new centre has been set up where police work alongside charities, private firms and other emergency services to offer support for people deemed at risk of becoming offenders.

Supt Eddie Murphy, head of community safety at South Yorkshire Police, said: “We know that if people lose that light at the end of the tunnel, if they haven’t got anything they can feel they can put their energy into… They are young men with bags of energy and if it is released in the wrong way that is where you will get incidents of anti-social behaviour.”

Det Supt Young said that he had “confidence” the feared crimewave will not materialise, but accepted it is becoming a major challenge for police forces to keep on delivering as budgets continue to be slashed.

“We are all feeling the funding is not as available as it was,” he said. “Of course we would like to see more money invested in the right areas to try to continue to reduce crime. But crime is coming down, and that does create capacity and opportunity. That gives me confidence in the future - but it does get increasingly difficult.”