Compulsory Jobs Guarantee Opposition Day — [17th Allotted Day] – in the House of Commons at 1:57 pm on 11th February 2015.
Posted on 17 Feb 2015 under Latest in Parliament
Kate Green Shadow Minister (Work and Pensions) 4:10 pm, 11th February 2015
This has been a good debate and I thank all hon. and right hon. Members for their contributions.
Our motion is about how we tackle long-term unemployment, particularly long-term youth unemployment. While I welcome the belated increases in the numbers in work that hon. Members have talked about in relation to their constituencies—in passing, I point out that that rise in employment has been accompanied by record in-work poverty—today’s debate is about the fact that our long-term unemployment rate, particularly our long-term youth unemployment rate, remains far too high.
As my right hon. Friend Stephen Timms pointed out in opening the debate, long-term youth unemployment, at 750,000, is not only rising but worsening relative to the population as a whole. Research by the House of Commons Library has shown that in 2010 youth unemployment stood at 2.5 times all unemployment. Now, on the latest figures we have, that proportion has increased to 2.9 times, so young people’s position is not improving; it is getting worse. As many hon. Members have noted, we should all be concerned about the scarring effect that occurs over lifetimes for individuals and communities if young people do not get the best start at the beginning of their working lives.
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