Speech: The recession is hitting people of all ages, but young people are suffering most
The recession is hitting people of all ages. But young people are suffering most. Because a long period of unemployment when you are young can scar you for life. And we will all be poorer if we haven’t got the skilled young people we need when recovery comes.
Many young people who can’t find a job have been trying to get more education and training instead. And it makes far more sense to have them mastering a new skill rather than just signing on for benefit. It is a national scandal that during this recession young people desperate to study at university or get an apprenticeship have been turned away when they have knocked on the door of opportunity.
Even when they have been able to get on a course they have often just got paper qualifications churned out to meet targets set by government, not the real needs of employers. For too many young people Gordon Brown’s Britain means no new skills, no gainful employment, no better prospects.
Today I can announce three practical carefully-costed proposals.
First, more real apprenticeships. We in this Party know what an apprenticeship is. It is when someone who has built up real experience in the workplace passes on their skills to the next generation. We are going to cut the red tape on employers and increase the rewards for small businesses that take on apprentices.
We have a second proposal too. Some young people who are so alienated from education and authority that we cannot expect them to get on to apprenticeships like that straightaway. We can help these young people too. I have been to carpentry workshops, for example, where young people who couldn’t stand school and hated maths had to cut the timber accurately if the roof was to stand up. George was right, we needed those skilled carpenters to fix the roof while the sun was shining. These young men suddenly see what maths is about. They pore over the calculations, helped by an older experienced guy who isn’t a teacher but a craftsman. We won’t be measuring their success by paper qualifications. It will be progression to a job or an apprenticeship that matters. Real skills to get real jobs.
Together, these two proposals add up to 300,000 new apprenticeships and training places with employers, colleges, and the voluntary sector. They will be paid for by refocusing the government’s ineffective train to gain budget.
But there are many jobs and skills for which now you have to study at university. All round the Western world more young people are going to university. We do not believe in artificial targets but if young people can benefit from higher education they should have that opportunity. And more young people than ever will be applying in the Summer of 2010. It is because of the recession and those who could not find places this year reapplying. It is also because there was a mini baby boom in 1992, so now we know how people celebrated our party’s last election victory.
We will provide 10,000 more fully-funded university places than Labour next year. We can fund it without reducing universities’ budgets or increasing the cost to the taxpayer. We will offer a special discount for the early repayment of student loans bringing extra cash into the Exchequer. Universities will be able to provide more places in the courses that will really shape our future.
We owe our young people nothing less than real apprenticeships, practical training, and a chance to go to university.
This is our chance to give new hope to people let down by Labour.