Lost – 50,000 Young People

The latest figures on the economy may say the recession is over but for one group of people, those aged 16-24, the misery is a long way from over.  Young people have, without question, borne the brunt of the impact of the recession.

Since the recession began in the second quarter of 2008, a total of 27,000 jobs have disappeared from Wales.  They’ve gone from a mix of household names like Hoovers and Hotpoint, from small and medium sized businesses across the board, and increasingly from the public sector.  Clearly, when those businesses and organisations laid-off workers people of all ages were let go.  But our analysis of employment statistics suggests that it is young people who have suffered by far the most.

Just look at the statistics.  In 2008, there were 204,500 people aged 16-24 in employment.  By 2012, the number had fallen to just 162,600 young people, a drop of nearly 42,000 jobs.  To lose one in five jobs in just four years is devastating, and it leaves less than half of this age group working.

Some of the decrease is because more and more young people are staying in education, but the main impact is seen in unemployment.  The number of unemployed young people has increased by more than 15,000 since the recession began, up 50% for young men and 33% for young women.  Six local authorities in Wales have male youth unemployment of over 30% – it’s a shocking 39 per cent in Rhondda Cynon Taf – and three have female youth unemployment over this level.

Let’s not forget that 16-24 year olds get a reduced rate of Jobseekers’ Allowance – a maximum of £56.25 – and are limited to the ‘shared rate’ of help with their rent. In Cardiff this is a maximum of £55.38 a week.

What is to be done about this lost generation?  Jobs Growth Wales is useful but an absolute drop in the ocean against this scale of unemployment – Wales’s 50,000 unemployed young people deserve more.  Meanwhile, in the meagre five weeks that Assembly Members have sat since their summer break, the subject has not featured once. While solutions are hard to find young people might at least expect their elected representatives to discuss their plight.

Victoria Winckler is director of the Bevan Foundation