Joblessness among the young is a ‘disaster’ for the economy, the Employment Minister has warned as she launched new Jobcentre vans to encourage people into work.
Alison McGovern said the ‘pandemic generation’ have missed out from not getting a first job to help them ‘get into the groove of work’.
She warned that the impact of youth inactivity – where people are not in education, employment or training – can have a long-term impact on them, as well as the economy.
‘Having young people out of work doing nothing is a disaster,’ Ms McGovern told the Mail yesterday.
‘The pandemic generation missed out on that first boss at work – and I think that’s a big problem.
‘We need to think about ways to give young people that experience of an experienced colleague who can help them get into the groove of work…
‘How do you best get young people who’ve missed out on that first job into a workplace where they can learn what it is to be part of a team and to really have that sense of achievement?’
Ms McGovern said that being in work is ‘really good for your mental health’, and that the experience obtained in a first job can last a lifetime.
She said she still uses skills she gained on ‘how to deal with someone who is unrelentingly rude’ from her first job in a department store in Chester.
‘We want young people to have jobs that are going to set them up well, and making sure that you are in employment at the beginning of your working life is very, very important,’ she added.
‘All of the evidence says that if you have a period of unemployment at the beginning of your working life, the consequences of that echoes down the years.’
Some 946,000 people aged 16-24 were not in employment, education or training in September to November last year, according to official figures.
The number who do not work because of long-term sickness or mental health conditions has also grown.
Ministers are determined to get a grip of welfare spending, and are looking at redrawing rules that force benefits claimants into an ‘all or nothing’ choice between working or being too sick to work.
Ms McGovern made the comments as she launched a ‘Jobcentre on wheels’ in Bolton which is taking employment support to football matches and retail parks.
Jobcentre vans – staffed by experienced work coaches – will offer support to people looking for a job or training, and also provide information to those with health conditions or disabilities.
They aim to bring expertise and support straight into the heart of the communities that need it most, the Department for Work and Pensions said.
Ms McGovern said that by ‘experimenting’ and taking Jobcentres to people, rather than them coming to the Jobcentre, would help to ‘reach people in a different way’.
‘It’s not always the case that it’s easy to jump on a bus because we haven’t got the public transport services that we need, or perhaps we want to reach out to people who might be socially isolated in other ways…
‘Feedback I’ve had from colleagues is that it is working well in Bolton, and we’ve had really good support from the likes of Bolton Wanderers Football Club and local organisations and employers who are quite keen to work together with DWP.’
The van in Bolton is the second one to be trialled, following on from one in North Wales. A third will be introduced in Scotland soon.