The Guardian view on benefit reforms: ministers should enable work – not force it | Editorial

Years of ugly attacks on benefit claimants mean Liz Kendall treads a delicate line as she sets out to boost employment

That one in eight young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training is a dismal statistic. Nearly a decade after the school-leaving age was raised to 18 in England (in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland it remains 16), and 25 years after Tony Blair aimed to have 50% of young people in higher education, Britain under the Tories went backwards.

The problem of a shrinking workforce, and the rising benefits bill it entails, is not limited to young adults. The UK’s lack of a post-pandemic bounceback in employment is a concern in other age groups, particularly the over-50s. But the government is right to be alarmed by the phenomenon of young people emerging from 14 years of schooling unable to work or undertake training. Unemployment and long-term illness are not a great start to anyone’s adult life.

Continue reading...

from The Guardian https://ift.tt/ltTUrFE

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

‘This is not our first rodeo’: Israelis remain stoic amid Iran strikes

Many citizens see loss of lives, homes and much else as a painful but necessary sacrifice for country’s future Middle East crisis – live updates The Iranian missile blew the door off the White City museum celebrating Bauhaus Tel Aviv, and shattered the windows of the Quick coffee shop down the road, where cinnamon buns and salads sat in the display case ready for a relaxed summer day that would never come. In the ultra-orthodox neighbourhood of Bnei Bark another missile collapsed a school, killing an 80-year-old man. A third hit partway up a high-rise tower in manicured, suburban Petah Tikva, destroying a reinforced safe room and killing the family inside. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/5X13r8n
Read more

Tributes paid to ‘much-loved’ boy killed in Gateshead industrial estate fire

Death of Layton Carr, 14, has left community ‘heartbroken’ as police arrest more than a dozen children A 14-year-old boy whose body was found after a large fire in Gateshead was “valued and much loved”, his headteacher has said. Fourteen children have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter over the death of Layton Carr, from South Tyneside. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/xS3DR60
Read more

At least six civilians killed in militant attack on courthouse in south-east Iran

Jihadist separatist group Jaish al-Adl says it launched mortar, shooting and grenade attack in Sistan-Baluchestan An attack by the jihadist separatist group Jaish al-Adl on a courthouse in Iran’s south-eastern province of Sistan-Baluchestan has killed at least six civilians, including a mother and child, and wounded 22, Iranian media reported on Saturday. Attackers stormed the building, shooting a number of people inside. They then launched a second attack with mortars and grenade launchers on the courthouse, where a clash began with security forces that lasted three hours, according to the Baluch human rights group Haalvsh. Continue reading... from The Guardian https://ift.tt/wleJfAd
Read more