The struggle of the young generationThe number of under-25s out of work and claiming jobseeker's allowance has increased by more than 200,000 to 456,000, over the past year, according to the latest government figures, released last week.On the wider labour market survey measure, an alarming 18.3% of 16- to-25-year-olds are unemployed.Brendan Barber, the TUC general secretary, says: "Youth unemployment is at its highest rate for 15 years. Unemployment leaves a permanent scar on young people's lives and the government must do all it can to stop joblessness blighting another generation."David Blanchflower, the labour market expert who recently stepped down from the Bank of England's monetary policy committee, says that even short periods of unemployment can have a longterm "scarring" effect, affecting people's job prospects for many years.And, unlike the many thousands of manufacturing lay-offs during the 1980s recessions, he says, a wide swathe of social groups will be hit this time, from working-class school leavers to middle-class students."It's a call to arms for their parents and their grandparents" he says."We need to get all parties together and say, what are we going to do about this?"A recent report by the CIPD revealed that nearly half of the employers it surveyed were not planning to recruit school leavers or graduates this summer.
