Government not doing enough to tackle youth unemployment, say MPs

A report from the Work and Pensions Select Committee said the government's £1bn youth contract programme would not be enough to 'address the current unacceptably high level of youth unemployment'.
 
One in six 18-year-olds (15.5%) in England were not in education, employment or training between April and June, according to the latest government figures released last month - a 1.2 percentage points increase on the same time last year.

UCU said the government needed to provide more routes to education, training and work if youth unemployment was to be tackled and a generation saved from inactivity.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Today's report is a timely reminder that much more needs to be done to give young people genuine opportunities to get on in life. The MPs are right to call the current levels of unemployment unacceptably high and we simply cannot afford to maintain these levels of youth inactivity.
 
'Sadly, the report comes at a time when university fees are rocketing, the number of people attending university is dropping and the government has axed grants for 16-19-year-olds wanting to stay on at college.'