Young people left on the sidelines

guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 November 2011

The problems young people face trying to find a job are shocking (Young, willing and desperate, G2, 2 November), and with nearly 1 million young people aged between 16 and 24 unable to find a job, the government must act.

Small firms do want to employ, but lack the resources that would enable them do to so. Research by the Federation of Small Businesses shows that only 8% of small firms took on an apprentice in the past year, but four in 10 said they would take someone on with a wage subsidy. At the same time, the FSB is aware that people need money for everyday living. That is why we would support a rise in the national minimum wage to £123 a week for apprentices – a figure roughly in line with the rate for 16- to 17-year-olds.

Extending work trials by making them available from the first day someone signs on to jobseeker's allowance could help create 46,000 jobs. The government could also reinstate the Graduate Internship Scheme. Our research shows that a quarter of all internships end up turning into a full-time role and that, better still, young people exposed to working in small businesses are more likely to set up their own business.

The government must ensure young people are not hindered at the very beginning of their career, but it must also take into account the atmosphere that small firms are trading in. We cannot afford to watch this generation just disappear.
John Walker
National chairman, FSB

• I agree with much of Zoe Williams' article (Don't blame the young – it's the jobs that have vanished, 3 November), and would add the following: one of the main reasons why young people cannot get jobs is that the current employment legislation discourages small businesses from employing them. There are many thousands of businesses who would take on additional staff except for the fact that in the event of a business downturn, it can be difficult and expensive to get rid of them. In times of prosperity and full employment all employees should enjoy the same job protection. In these economically difficult times, this government should be doing all it can to encourage businesses to employ young people.
Joe Haynes
Wargrave, Berkshire

• Zoe Williams is right to demand an end to blaming unemployment on young people and their education, and to call instead for collective responsibility. The CBI, which denounced the "chaotic school-work transition" in last week's Action for Jobs report, calls too for the business community to quit "complaining from the sidelines". But in lobbying for a national insurance refund for employers who retain a young person for a year, the report undermines its own sense of urgency. The nation and its jobless youths don't have the luxury of waiting for such policy changes. This is in large measure a business issue, and one businesses must play a lead role in fixing, with or without government subsidies.

Some, including key players in the insurance industry such as the Chartered Insurance Institute and Legal & General, already invest seriously in schools volunteering programmes designed to develop young people's skills and appetites for careers in their sectors. It's time for other businesses to get into the classroom.
Nigel Rayment
Director, Magnified Learning

• Zoe Williams is right to highlight the difficulty that young people with criminal records face in finding a job. However, her suggestion that "not many young people have criminal records" is questionable; more than a quarter of men have been convicted of a criminal offence before the age of 30.

For young adults with little or no experience of work, a criminal record can prove particularly difficult to overcome. In its green paper Breaking the Cycle, the government set out much-needed proposals to improve the employment opportunities of all offenders, including reform of the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974. Since then, however, plans to review this ineffective legislation appear to have sunk without trace.

Employment significantly reduces the risk of reoffending. A clear plan to get more ex-offenders, including young adults, into work, should be a priority.
Vicki Helyar-Cardwell
Director, Criminal Justice Alliance