“youth unemployment”

Virtually the whole of Europe faces a crisis of escalating youth unemployment, and Britain is no exception. More than a million under-24s are out of work and not studying or training – over 15% of young people. The low-skilled comprise the bulk of the unemployed. The OECD reported last week that 19% of 25- to 34-year-olds in the UK who left school at 16 are now unemployed in contrast to 9% in 2000, while for those with degrees the unemployment rate

MARKS & Spencer has joined forces with the Prince’s Trust to create more than 1,400 work experience placements for young people. The recruits, aged 16 to 25, will take part in a four-week programme of unpaid work in an M&S store. The firm says the joint scheme is designed to address the skills and experience gap that prevents many young people from finding work. Chief executive Marc Bolland said: “Youth unemployment has become one of today’s key social issues and we want

Germany and France announced plans to tackle the mass youth unemployment gripping southern Europe with a “New Deal”. Under the plans, 6 bn euros from the European Investment Bank will help encourage job creation at small and medium sized businesses, after the eurozone debt crisis has left many SME’s struggling to borrow money from banks. The deal will also pay for language courses and fund jobseekers’ flights around the continent in search of work. Nearly one in four young people in the

For Greg Thompson university was unappealing. The idea of big debts and a hard time getting a job to pay them off made little sense to him. But when it came to finding an alternative to higher education, his school had little advice to offer, he says. “I don’t anywhere see there being alternative routes to success. We had a job fair at college once and all the stands were universities,” he recalls. What his school did have, however, was a partnership