BRITAIN will invest an additional £1 billion ($1.3bn) to unlock jobs for young people, the government said yesterday, part of a drive to reduce the nearly 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training.
Britain’s youth unemployment has reached a 10-year high, according to figures released last month, outpacing other European nations and posing tough questions for the governing Labour Party over its decision to raise the minimum wage.
Work and pensions minister Pat McFadden announced that the £1bn will be invested in grants to companies willing to engage young people and in more subsidised jobs – measures that he says will help create 200,000 jobs.
“These measures will give life-changing opportunities to young people and significantly reverse the increase we inherited in those not in education, employment or training,” McFadden said in a statement.
Businesses will receive a 3,000-pound subsidy if they hire a person aged 18-24 who has been receiving unemployment benefits for the past six months. Small and medium-sized businesses will get £2,000 for each apprentice aged 16-24.
A scheme offering 25 hours a week of subsidised work to people who have been unable to find work for 18 months will be widened to include those aged up to 24.
Some companies say they struggle to afford to hire younger people, citing increases to the minimum wage alongside a rise in employers’ social security contributions and other costs.
The Recruitment and Employment Confederation, an industry body, welcomed the steps but said rules around apprenticeships remained too rigid and hiring costs were too high.
Some employers complain that new legislation giving more rights to workers will make hiring more expensive.
The government has also pledged to end lower minimum pay rates for 18- to 20-year-old workers. The main minimum wage rate now stands at £12.21 an hour – up 29 per cent over the past three years – while the rate for 18- to 20-year-old workers has risen 46pc to £10 an hour over the same period and is due to increase to £10.85 in April.
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