25/11/2011

Clegg To Launch £1bn Scheme For Youth Jobs

The Deputy Prime Minister has announced a scheme to help the UK's unprecedented Youth unemployment figures, committing £1 billion to put the young into work.

Nick Clegg said the aim was to ensure all jobless young people were earning or learning again before long-term damage was done.

Over three years, the "Youth Contract" will provide at least 410,000 new work places for 18 to 24 year olds into work, according to the Deputy PM.

Speaking during the launch he said: “The aim of the Youth Contract is to get every unemployed young person earning or learning again before long term damage is done. This is a £1bn package and what’s different about it is gets young people into proper, lasting jobs in the private sector.

“Youth unemployment is an economic waste and a slow-burn social disaster. We can’t lose the skills and talent of our young people – right when we need them most. We can’t afford to leave our young men and women on the scrap heap. We need the next generation to help us build a new economy.

“It hasn’t been easy to find £1bn but it is the right thing to do."

Labour said they can't see any source of the funding for the billion pound scheme and dubbed it as a wrong strategy.

Work and Pensions Secretary Liam Byrne told the BBC: “Where is the money going to come from?”

"If the government is slashing working families' tax credits to pay the bill for this new scheme, it beggars belief. That tells you everything you need to know about how out of touch the government is with the needs of our young people and squeezed middle families across Britain,” he added.

(DW)

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