Three times as many young people out of work & training as apprenticeship places

There are three times as many young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) as there are apprenticeship places for under-25s across England, according to new IPPR analysis released ahead of the latest unemployment figures (publish at 0930 on Wednesday). The latest unemployment figures show that 950,000 young people are unemployed but there were over a million under-25s not in education, employment or training.

New IPPR's analysis shows that one in seven under-25s are not in education, employment or training. At the start of this week Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced a review of the £1bn Youth Contract scheme.

A new report from IPPR published today argues that improving training and employment opportunities for young people will be vital if the UK is pursue a full employment strategy over the next decade. The report argues that full employment should be the central focus of UK economic policy, targeting an employment rate of 80 per cent. The report shows that if 2.5 million extra people who are looking for work in the UK were in employment, living standards would rise and the welfare state would be more easily funded.

IPPR's new report argues that the government should concentrate on increasing the employment rate of three groups of potential workers not just by making them more employable but also by increasing demand for their services:

• Women - in particular mothers, older women and women from certain ethnic backgrounds
• 'Disadvantaged' groups - people with work-limiting disabilities, young people, older people and those with few or no skills
• Victims of rapid technological change and globalisation - those previously employed in declining industries and found disproportionately in the North of England and the West Midlands

The report shows that employment in the UK is extremely divided and becoming more so:

• The female employment rate is more than ten per cent lower than the male employment rate.
• Pakistani/Bangladeshi women have the lowest employment rate of all, at just over one in five.
• A disabled person is 28 per cent less likely to be in employment than a non-disabled person.
• There are almost a million (950,000) unemployed 16 to 24 year olds.
• Overall, 898,000 people have been out of work for more than a year, including 458,000 people who have been out of work for two years.
• The South West has seen 42% more jobs created in the last 30 years, compared to just 8% in the North East.

Kayte Lawton, Senior Research Fellow at IPPR, said:

"Youth unemployment is a huge waste of talent and a personal tragedy for young people, who can be scarred for life by the experience. The Youth Contract has not been an adequate replacement for the Future Jobs Fund and youth unemployment remains a major concern.

"In the post-War decades, maintaining full employment was central to boosting family living standards and funding our public services and welfare state. Since the end of the 1970s we have tolerated much higher unemployment, with major fiscal and human costs. For many years, policy has focused on improving individuals skills and employability, often with impressive results. But if we are to pursue and achieve an employment rate that competes with the best in the world, we will need a more assertive approach to putting job creation and boosting the demand for labour at the centre of our economic and social policies. Many other European countries have an employment rate of 80% so this is not a 'pie in the sky' aspiration.

"IPPR has long argued for a job guarantee, paid at the minimum wage or above, for any person who has been out of work and claiming JSA for more than a year, with an obligation on the part of the unemployed person to take the job or find an alternative. More affordable childcare, a regionally focused industrial policy and greater support for firms employing disabled people would all help raise the UK employment rate and put us on the path to full employment."

Notes to editors

IPPR's new report - 'A job for everyone: What should full employment mean in 21^st century Britain?' - will be published on Wednesday 17 July and available here: http://bit.ly/IPPR11002

IPPR's report - Jobs for the Future: The path back to full employment in the UK - is available from http://www.ippr.org/publications/55/7938/jobs-for-the-future-the-path-back-to-full-employment-in-the-uk

The final report of IPPR North's Northern Economics Futures Commission is available here: http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/9949/northern-prosperity-is-national-prosperity-a-strategy-for-revitalising-the-uk-economy

The latest unemployment statistics are available here:

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/june-2013/index.html

Number of NEETs: Annual average of quarters Q3 2011-Q2 2012

Apprenticeship starts: In the 2011/12 academic year (August-July)

Source: The Data Service 2013 and Department For Education Q1 2013 NEETs statistics

Contacts:

Richard Darlington, 07525 481 602,r.darlington@ippr.org