1 in 5 are not 9 to 5

Going to show my age now, but when I was a lad, I remember UB40’s big hit ‘One in Ten’ which set out a clear message and raised awareness about the scourge of unemployment in the early 1980s. The ‘one in ten’ was a reference to the number of people out of work at the time. This song may seem a little tame by today’s standards but in those seemingly more politically charged days, when music and politics seemed more closely aligned, it was an awareness raising moment for many.

A few colleagues from Local Solutions have been at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool this week due to us providing the Shopmobility service at the event for people with mobility restrictions. This opportunity has allowed us to get to some of the debates and discussions and at the ones I have attended one point has been repeated time and time again – that the Futures Jobs Fund was a fantastic initiative for helping young people back into work. Of course, this was a Labour programme so they would say that wouldn’t they. However, sometimes the passion behind the rhetoric is telling. The Future Jobs Fund provided a six-moth paid work placement for unemployed young people. Local Solutions was a principal provider on Merseyside, 600 young people accessed this initiative through us gaining skills and qualifications and developing their capacities and readiness for work. Over 150 young people secured full time employment through their participation. Some of our current crop of young employees were recruited through the scheme and continue to be a credit to our organisation.

The Future Jobs Fund has now finished but not because the problem has gone. In fact the youth unemployment statistics are startling. In April to July 2011 the Office of National Statistics states that there were 973,000 unemployed young people in the UK. This is 1 in 5 of that population. I’ll repeat that - 1 in 5. Of those, 35,000 young people have been out of work for more that one year – there are real concerns of yet another lost generation.

Of course there are no simple answers, no magic wand. Local Solutions will start to deliver the new Government Work Programme in October, a new initiative to support people to re-enter the workplace. I hope that this is a real success but know that it will be delivered in the context of a rather gloomy economic outlook. However, our employment advisors are a bunch of very talented and dedicated people with a wealth of experience of delivering these types of programmes so I am confident that whatever the challenges there will be success stories to follow.

I hope that things will start to turn around soon for young people but we need to maintain awareness of this huge issue. I don’t expect this year’s X-Factor’s winners Christmas single will be entitled ‘One in Five’ but I can always live in hope.