Based on data from the Sunday Times Business Section, almost a fifth of the young people (18-25) in GB are out of work, with the figure likely to hit 1m in September 2009. Another 730,000 of this age group are not in education, employment or training. It is not any better in Europe with 12 of the 27 EU states having jobless rates among under 25's above 20%.
Although alot of focus has been on jobs lost in the City, CIPD research states that "blue collar" unemployment has rsien at three times the rate of white collar and professional workers in the recession. What is the long term impact? ST quote "One study showed that for lifetime wages for those who suffer unemployment when young are between 13% and 21% lower than for others"
Another major impact is that without jobs or even the prospect of jobs, what will the youth do? It's not called youthful energy for nothing. A recent Time article stated that for many young people in NI, they have not felt the benefit of peace and that a return to interface violence was at least something for them to do built on a premise of restless energy and a need to blame someone. In ancient times, the infantry was so-called because it was comprised of children (long before Sierra Leone) who were sent in as the first wave as they were considered expendible. Have we really moved on, how many businesses still see young people as cheap expendible labour? We need to encourage young people towards employment, trades and skills. If we don't as science tells us, energy is not lost it is just transferred. Where will this youthful energy go?
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