UK mandates paid jobs for long-term unemployed youth

The post UK mandates paid jobs for long-term unemployed youth appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves will announce that the UK government will require every young person out of work or education for 18 months to take up a paid job. Central to Labour’s Youth Guarantee programme, the plan represents one of the most radical attempts in years to address Britain’s persistent rates of long-term youth unemployment. In a speech at the Labour Party conference, Reeves will argue that she is committed to nothing less than the abolition of long-term youth unemployment. Under the scheme, those aged 16-24 and out of work for at least 18 months would be given a job offer they would have to take. Those who decline could face sanctions, including a reduction in benefits. Reeves will say the policy is not just about jobs, “It is also about dignity. “We will not allow a generation of young people to languish, without hope or prospects for the future — locked out from security and the fair chance that good work brings,” she will say. The Labour government is adamant that this is not about punishing the young, but preventing them from being left behind in a shifting economy. Budget will decide funding and scope The scheme will be detailed in the Budget on November 26. Ministers will detail whether jobs will be directly funded by the government or subsidised through incentives to employers. The scheme only applies to those in the specified age group and who have been on Universal Credit for 18 months. That means some groups of people — like young adults not claiming benefits, or the recently unemployed — will not be eligible. Officials concede that it is hard to be certain that the scheme creates new jobs rather than filling those that would have been taken anyway. Critics fear the government could pay employers to…