Sam Harris: Where are the jobs for young who are nation’s future?

In the UK, the figures do not make for much better reading – one million people in this age bracket are out of work. The facts show that it is a widespread issue, but what is the Government doing to tackle this?

David Cameron makes repeated claims that the Government have launched schemes, including apprenticeships, that will create new jobs for the young. However, each time such claims are made, the youth unemployment rate continues to rise.

Here in Yorkshire, the jobless rate is well above the national average, and with further cuts to the public sector expected, the only option appears to be to turn to the already stagnant private sector job market.

The Office for National Statistics quotes the national average unemployment rate to be 7.7 per cent. This is a figure that Sheffield, Leeds, Bradford, Barnsley, Kirklees, Wakefield, Scarborough and Hull already exceeds. Whenever unemployment rises, it is always the North that gets hit hardest.

Nick Clegg recently announced a £1bn “youth contract” that will create, he claims, 410,000 jobs for the youth unemployed over the next three years. In a typical neo-liberal fashion, the Deputy Prime Minister pointed out that these jobs would be “proper, lasting jobs in the private sector”.

In the current climate, Clegg’s last statement appears to be a fallacy. Supposed “long lasting” private sector jobs are the one of the main contributors to the present unemployment figures, as the multi-nationals increase redundancies and small businesses make enforced redundancies to keep their heads above the water.

With the majority of big business based around London and the South East, this “youth contract” appears to be a weak attempt at helping the South, while being particularly unhelpful for the North.

Rather than invest the majority of the time and money into such schemes, the Government should be looking to the banks to take the lead. Interest rates have once again remained at 0.5 per cent, which technically should increase borrowing. Yet this is not the case, as banks are imposing tougher rules and refusing the majority of loan applications from small businesses. This means that such companies cannot afford to employ new young workers as apprentices, expand production or create new jobs.

Sir Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor, has now announced that a further £50bn of quantitative easing will be invested to combat the poor levels of lending, and increase bank spending. However, the first £275bn had very little effect, and the more money is thrown at the problem, the higher the risk of inflation further down the line.

With an 82 per cent stake in RBS, the Government has the tools to increase long-term lending. Yet it appears that Mr Cameron is so afraid of state control that he can’t use it – even when it is in his hand and in the country’s best interests.

Upon the completion of my degree, I will join thousands of other new graduates searching for jobs that we were assured a university education would bring us.

We will be finding ourselves in the same positions and the same jobs as the people who left school at 16 and went straight to work. Yet, owing to a lack of experience, some degree holders could be at a disadvantage.

The nasty truth of the current crisis is that it is shining a rather unflattering light upon universities across the country. Cases appear in the news every day of graduates having to take waitressing and bar jobs in coffee shops.

With tuition fees now increasing three-fold to about £9,000, the applications are expected to decline. Jobs are not assured, and debt is increasing, so what is there to attract students?

In the years to come, a generation of people without any further education qualifications is dangerous.

It is a worrying time for the nation as a whole, but particularly for the young. We are the future of this nation, yet it appears to be our age group that is being hit hardest by the lack of jobs.

For the foreseeable future, it is vital that the Government does everything necessary to improve the work opportunities for students to lessen the reliance on the welfare state, and ensure that the second and third generations of some families do not find themselves dependent on benefits.

* Sam Harris is a politics student at Sheffield Hallam University