In November of 2011 record-breaking
statistics for youth unemployment were splashed across headlines in the
UK, with 21% of all 16 to 24-year-olds being unemployed, out of
education or training. In December the records were broken all over
again with youth unemployment reaching 1.027 million– equating to 22% of
all 16 to 24-year-olds.
In November of 2011 record-breaking
statistics for youth unemployment were splashed across headlines in the
UK, with 21% of all 16 to 24-year-olds being unemployed, out of
education or training. In December the records were broken all over
again with youth unemployment reaching 1.027 million– equating to 22% of
all 16 to 24-year-olds.
While a single percent may seem meagre at first
glance, it is important to reiterate this has risen within the space of a
month, despite floundering attempts by the coalition government to
invest in jobs and other employment initiatives for young people. And
this ‘record-breaking’ figure will no doubt be broken again and again as
months go by throughout the New Year, especially when these employment
initiatives prove themselves unfruitful and emasculating.
Speaking to friends and acquaintances both inside and outside of
full-time education (some of which have received numerous A grade
A-levels in September last year), it has become clear that of the
hundreds of CVs that some have sent out in the months since September,
it is extremely common that only one or two job interviews will be
offered, and even those have been reportedly misleading or outright
scams.
One particular young woman aged 18 received several A-levels of the
outstanding A* grade, and having applied and been deemed successful for a
job in journalism, she reported that her interviewer made it “the last
thing he mentioned” that the job itself was actually completely unpaid!
Even without advertising the initial vacancy as an ‘unpaid internship’
some companies were only releasing hints about their masquerading slave
labour after the young person had accepted the job. She then went on to
tell me that it was completely common that “advertisements don’t
actually specify ‘paid’ or not” and explained to me: “I think if you
look specifically into journalism and marketing there’s a lot of kids
wanting to be writers and they use that [to take advantage of them]”.
But the truth of the matter is that this practice among employers is
not confined to marketing and journalism but is becoming increasingly
common among companies in all fields; enabling them to misinform,
manipulate and bully unemployed and desperate workers into accepting
utterly illegal employment contracts on the false pretences that “six
months of unpaid internship with our company will guarantee you a
paid job with us in the future”. Even in simply trawling employment
agency websites (Gumtree, Monster etc.), it is clear that companies are
becoming increasingly ambiguous about wages, encouraging hopefuls to
contact first and apply initially before such information is provided.
In some instances, even upon learning that the jobs applied for are
unpaid, some young people accept the jobs anyway purely out of feelings
of obligation, or sheer bewilderment.
These instances of first-world slavery are not improved by the
coalition government’s new bureaucratic measures and pressures on job
agencies either. The government’s Work Programme has tightened up the
Welfare and Pensions Department and scrutinised receivers of
unemployment benefits and Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) which, in a bid to
get more people into work, is only serving to catalyse and endorse the
aforementioned examples of exploitation. In order to help people find
jobs they attempt to help them gain ‘workplace experience’, yet this
actually involves forcing people into unpaid jobs with the threat of
withdrawing unemployment benefits should they refuse. One such incident
was recently reported in the Daily Mail (12th Jan 2012) in
which a young post-graduate was forced into accepting two-weeks of
unpaid work at Poundland or risk having her unemployment benefits of
almost £60 per week withdrawn. This wasn’t merely a cruel-to-be-kind
persuasion to gain her some ‘work experience’ for her own good; the
young woman was already devoting her time to volunteering in a museum!
Ms Reilly has now taken legal action against the UK government since it
was their desperate employment initiatives and red-tape which has led to
such a breach of the Human Rights Act.
The old Blairite concept of a ‘classless’ society or purely
‘middle-class’ nation has clearly collapsed; the distinction between the
wealthy and the disenfranchised is becoming ever more apparent due to
the economic conditions in the UK today, and worldwide, which have
forced desperate governments to enforce agendas of public sector cuts
and austerity measures. The increase in university tuition fees and cuts
to EMA has already marked the return of education to a commodity
status, reserved only for those who are able to afford it. But even more
paradoxically, employment seems to be only accessible for those who can
afford it as well! Internships and volunteer work seems to be the
‘foot-in-the-door’ for young people to gain access to full-time
employment opportunities, and yet internships and volunteering remains
only available to those who are already receiving some form of financial
support already.
Having cut youth services, EMA, university funding and young people’s
health clinics, it isn’t surprising that we’ve already seen mass
student protests and outbreaks of rioting in the last year: Statistics
of youth unemployment in the UK coincide with the areas worst affected
by the riots. Tower Hamlets was the borough with the highest number of
benefit claimants in October 2011, with 3,430 claiming jobseeker’s
allowance (10% of its young people), Newham having 3,300 claimants,
Croydon with 2,935, Enfield – 2,860, Waltham Forest – 2,780, and
Southwark – 2,700.(BBC, Oct 2011) With the ‘green shoots’ of economic
recovery now having disappeared from casual mention in the news, we are
faced with the sinister prospect of a steady growth in unemployment over
2012.
The same outpouring of destruction, disregard and inarticulate
frustration observed in the August riots will affect more and more young
people if we do not fight for an alternative government and alternative
economic system.
