P10






Stuck generation?


The recession has accentuated youth unemployment it is not the cause of it argues Martin Allen.






The popular press frequently refers to them as a ‘lost generation’. The reality is that many young people find they are increasingly ‘stuck’. More qualified than ever, they can’t find the jobs they want and, saddled with debt and facing spiralling housing costs, a third of men age 20 to 34 and a fifth of women still live with their parents.


Near a million young jobless


Despite the recession having officially ‘ended’, youth unemployment is still high. Well over 900,000 16 to 24 year olds are out of work – approximately one in five of the cohort. Over 700,000 young people not in full-time education or training continue to be classified as ‘economically inactive’, suggesting the real jobless figure is nearer one in four.


A particularly worrying feature is the number of graduates out of work: some studies suggest 15 per cent of graduates under 24, and 20 per cent of new graduates. Equally worrying is the extent of graduate ‘underemployment’. Estimates suggest that up to one in three can be classed as gringos (graduates in non-graduate occupations). As more jobs become ‘graduatised’, less qualified young people are bumped down into more poorly paid employment, or can’t find a job at all.


Knowledge economy flags


For over a decade, New Labour promoted the idea that the ‘knowledge economy’ would provide highly skilled, well paid jobs for those suitably qualified. This has proved to be a myth. In fact social mobility has declined and though the number of professional and managerial jobs continues to grow, there are not enough for those qualified to do them.


At the other end of the labour market there’s a large increase in low paid, unskilled work in areas such as retailing, catering and the care industries. If the knowledge economy has run out of steam, the education system has become like trying to move up a down escalator – you have to run to stand still.


Wanting to return to grammar school days, Michael Gove’s decision to make the English baccalaureate the main indicator of school success will not help most young people. Despite Professor Alison Wolf advising him against extending vocational pathways pre-16 in her review for the Government of vocational education, Gove is likely to follow the approach of Kenneth (now Lord) Baker. He created the national curriculum and is now the architect of the new university technical colleges, which offer vocational specialisation from age 14 – further reflecting the values of the 1944 Act.


Apprenticeships but no jobs?


We must support the entitlement to a good general education for all, while recognising that it is the economy as much as the education service that is failing young people. Youth



 


Martin Allen is co-author of Lost Generation? New Strategies for Youth and Education. He teaches part-time at Alperton Community School sixth form in London.


Cotinued on page 11










Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16