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Commission on youth unemployment calls for emergency action

7 February 2012

With 1 in 5 young people not in employment, education or training and a quarter of a million unemployed for over a year, the Commission says youth unemployment is not only one of the greatest challenges facing the country in human terms, but is also a £28bn timebomb under the nation's finances.

The Commission, chaired by David Miliband MP on behalf of ACEVO, the charity leaders body, makes practical recommendations on what can be done to make Government's ambition of abolishing long-term youth unemployment achievable.

The report tackles the two challenges behind the headlines: the current crisis of rocketing youth unemployment driven by low levels of demand for young people's labour, and Britain's long-standing structural youth unemployment problem.

Recommendations include: 

•  Ensuring more job opportunities are available to young people in 2012
• 'First step' - a part-time job guarantee
• Targeting young people earlier
• Youth Employment Zones
• A new mentoring scheme for young people, by young people

Also, new research in the report shows that current levels of youth unemployment will cost the public purse at least £4.8 billion in 2012 and its scarring effects will cost £2.9 billion a year in the future. The net present value of the wider costs to the Treasury, even looking only a decade ahead, is £28 billion - that is the true measure of the potential economic damage.

Sir Stephen Bubb, CEO of ACEVO said, "Youth unemployemnt has been a burning issue for voluntary sector leaders for years now. The current numbers only serve to reinforce that concern. Charity CEOs are ready and willing to be a key part of the solution, but we need Government and the private sector to work with us. The current crisis will only be solved if we see this as a priority for us."

Links
Youth unemployment - the crisis we cannot afford report
News release

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