Tonight:
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It's a hard time to be young right now, at least in economic terms.
The unemployment figures today, which seem likely to show that the number of jobless has risen to 2.5 million, also suggest that one in five people under 25 is without work.
For some graduates, the hope that a degree would be a highway to a good job has proved illusory though the prospect of paying off university tuition fees still looms large. And while the recession has, according to Age Concern, fallen hard on the over-fifties, they can at least approach employers with some work experience. The young can't.
An interesting aspect of the figures, however, is that benefits claims are not keeping pace with unemployment statistics. That suggests that some jobless people either have savings to fall back on or another income in the family. This recession falls on all sectors, though the real losers are low-earners, who are not dependent on benefits but who have few other resources.
In these circumstances, it is notable that eight per cent of employers still plan to recruit migrant workers this year. According to a study by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, the number of migrant workers rose in 2008-9 while the employment of UK nationals fell. This has a bleak message for the jobless.
The reason why employers have taken on migrant workers, many from Eastern Europe, is not merely that they are a cheaper workforce but that many tend to have the skills and the attitude to work that some Britons do not. If young people, in particular, are to obtain work in a shrinking jobs market, they may have to replicate some of the qualities that make Poles, for instance, so employable: skills that are in demand, and a positive work ethos.
The Government does have a skills strategy for the unemployed, focused primarily on those with no skills. Yet this is belated recognition, in the case of some young people on benefits, that schools have not done as much as they could to provide the qualifications and inculcate the attitudes that employers value. And in some cases, the degrees that young graduates offer are not those which best equip them for a competitive jobs market.
Making the best of grim news, Lord Mandelson, the Business Secretary, is calling for a “national campaign” to get employers to offer work experience, internships and apprenticeships to young people. It's worth a try.
Prince Charles has his way
There is something remarkable about the fact that half of the architects on the shortlist to design the new Chelsea Barracks, which will replace the plans by one of Britain's most notable architects, Richard Rogers, are from a stable of architects that the Prince of Wales favours.
Prince Charles, writing as one prince to another to the Emir of Qatar, put paid to Lord Rogers's plans. Even if the Prince has not secured the project for his own favourite, Quinlan Terry, it seems likely to go to a kindred spirit.
This is no way to decide the merits of an important scheme. It is good news for the capital that the project is going ahead: a welcome boost for construction in the downturn. But the ultimate choice of architect must be validated by genuine public consultation.
And, more importantly, the premise of the scheme should be questioned. As our architecture correspondent, Rowan Moore, has pointed out, it matters less whether the architect is a modernist or a traditionalist than the fact that the project is too big for the site, cramming too many flats into too small a space. Prince Charles may have got his way in seeing off a distinguished architect but he has ignored the large issues around this crucial development.
Dame Kiri te Kanawa retires on a high note
Dame Kiri te Kanawa, one of the world's great sopranos, is, at 65, to retire next spring. It is a loss to opera lovers but it is marvellous that we can remember her at her glorious best through her legacy of so many fine recordings.
Reader views (2)
Besides a recession, we have more and more young people leaving school who are untrained in any skills (ie plumbing) and are semi-illiterate with serious anti-social attitudes because of poor parental upbringing and poor schooling. Lack of discipline prevails. Most are unemployable. Sadly, this will get a lot worse because of 12 years of bad social engineering by labour. Better educated immigrants from Easter Europe with a better work ethic will make matters worse.
- Ralph, London, England, 13/08/2009 13:36
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The trouble with this shoddy Government is that nobody in the DWP has ever had to look for a job. They have no idea what the young people need to get back into work. I have always said that if you want to work, especially in London you will. I even wrote to several papers, this one included offering to return to the UK and get a job within a few days and write a day by day blog of just how easy it is. Funnily NOT ONE took me up on this offer. It seems that the culture of benefits is not a story at all when by rights it should be.
- Duncan Walker, Ex Peckham nowThailand, 13/08/2009 02:23
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