Milburn report abandons lazy tropes about youth unemployment

The New Economics Foundation has reacted to Alan Milburn’s review of youth unemployment.

George Bangham, head of social policy at the New Economics Foundation (NEF), said:

“When over 1 million young people are neither in employment, education nor training, this points to a system-wide failure. It’s refreshing to see the Milburn review identify this, and reject lazy tropes about this problem somehow being young people’s own responsibility.

“Most young people want to work, but too few jobs are available to them in many local areas, as NEF research has shown. Job vacancies are at their lowest level in 12 years, outside of the pandemic lockdowns – and young people are struggling more than others to land the few jobs available.

“We need systemic change to fix this crisis. The government should create jobs through record investment in green infrastructure and housebuilding, and support the businesses and public services which power the everyday economy. Newly created jobs should be high-quality, and access to skills and training should be opened up to all young people, without them having to jump through administrative hoops in our social security system to access it. Employment support should do more to actually help people into a job.”