Unemployment: 'Time bomb' alert on young jobless

Employment Minister Chris Grayling described the situation as a "ticking time bomb" left by Labour on top of the 600,000 young people who have never worked since leaving education.

The figures announced yesterday by the Department of Work and Pensions showed 260,000 young people up to the age of 15 were living in a house where nobody had ever worked with almost nine out of 10 of these living in single parent homes.

They also reveal the number of young people living in homes where nobody has worked has dropped by 200,000 from the end of the second quarter last year compared with the same time two years earlier.

Yesterday Leeds University economist Professor Malcolm Sawyer said he did not believe a child growing up in a house where a single parent did not work would make them less likely to work themselves.

He said: "If the figures show 87 per cent of these young people in homes where nobody works are in fact in single parent households I do not think this will have an impact on whether they go on to get work themselves. The parent may not be working but they are likely to be busy bringing up their children."

The figures were revealed as Mr Grayling unveiled a new programme aimed at giving young people extended work experience opportunities to help tackle the "blight" of youth unemployment.

Under the new scheme, young people will be allowed to do work experience for up to eight weeks so they can get a "meaningful" stint in a business environment, gaining work experience, improving their CV and references and providing value to the employer. Under the old system people were allowed to do only two weeks experience before facing a loss of benefits.

Mr Grayling said: "Our new work experience scheme will give young people the chance to get valuable experience in a business for up to two months, which will make a real difference to their confidence, their employability and their prospects.

"This Government is making the changes that will give young people access to jobs and opportunities that can help them towards a brighter future. Today's figures on children growing up in workless households highlight once again the shocking betrayal of this country's young people by the last Labour government. Billions were squandered on the New Deal and Future Jobs Fund which too often merely put the young in short term, public sector jobs that were unsustainable."

The Government has faced criticism over the decision to scrap the Future Jobs Fund . That has cost at least 600 new jobs in the region.

Bids for 3.5m in funding by councils, voluntary groups and other organisations to create at least 619 fixed-term jobs in Yorkshire were rejected when the fund was axed.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "Replacing a jobs scheme that offered six months' paid work with one that offers eight weeks' unpaid work experience is a woefully inadequate response to the jobs crisis facing young people today."

He also warned that it could lead to fewer full-time jobs being available.

Liam Byrne, Labour's Shadow Work And Pensions Secretary, said: "Chris Grayling has had his head in the sand while his own Government's policies hit young people with a triple whammy of cuts to jobs, cuts to Education Maintenance Allowance and a tripling of tuition fees. Without work and study, what are they supposed to do?"