Unemployment- Are Apprenticeships the Solution?

Amid news that the recession has hit unemployment of those between the ages of 16-24 hardest, Gordon Brown pressed upon the public his earnest plans to create 85,000 jobs and training opportunities for young people.

Reported in The Guardian earlier this month, any unemployed young person between the ages of 18-24 will have the opportunity of a job or training with over 150 employers -including Royal Mail and Morrisons- within 10 months of signing on for the dole.

The measures which Brown hopes to come into play from April next year, include new training for 36,000 Morrisons‘ employees under 25, and about 5,000 new opportunities, including apprenticeships, offered by big companies such as Microsoft. The government said it would help get 45,000 people into jobs in retail, tourism, leisure and hospitality under the ‘Backing Young Britain’ scheme.

With the jobless rate among 16-24 year olds having risen by 20%, it’s hoped these apprenticeship and training schemes will help turn the tide on unemployment in this vulnerable age group.  The Apprenticeship website allows anyone living in England who is over 16 and not in full time education to apply for an apprenticeship. Apprentices are treated as employees, earn a wage and work alongside existing staff, gaining job- specific skills in particular sectors. These sectors are as varied as hairdressing to management, engineering to childcare.

Existing apprenticeship schemes are already in full swing across the UK- a scheme run by the Avon and Somerset Constabulary, allowing a team of young people to complete an NVQ and join the force as full time employees has been hailed a success, while Yorkshire charity the Yorkshire Dales Millennium Trust (YDMT) has provided training in the local area for some time.

In fact, YDMT have taken a unique approach to both supporting the environmental and social wellbeing of the Yorkshire Dales but also its economic security- a region of depopulation, YDMT helps young people stay in the area through allowing them to acquire new skills and experience. The charity’s ‘Dales Countryside Apprenticeship’ placed people with organizations such as English Nature, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority and Bolton Abbey Estate.

Further to this, Dales Traineeships in Countryside Management were created, and allowed up to five people to work towards an NVQ in Countryside Management, learning skills such as woodland management, dry stone walling and grassland management.

Opposing parties are skeptical as to the numbers of real employment Labour will be able to create. The Conservatives said Mr Brown should “come clean” on the figures and the Liberal Democrats described the announcement as “characteristically timid and lacking in -ambition”.

Steve Webb, the Liberal Democrat work and pensions spokesman, said: “Ten months out of work is 10 months too long for young people whose career prospects can be devastated by a period of long-term unemployment.”

Let us know your thoughts-are these training and apprenticeship scheme a solution to this recession-worn state of unemployment or simply a rehash of old ideas, with very little productive output to follow? Is 10 months too long to have young people wait on the dole before being given this opportunity? We’re eager to hear your views!