Nearly 1m young people out of work

Ok. Sorry. I'm not familiar with it.

I don't know the full story with regards to their situation but I should imagine there's some such support there. At least, I hope there is.

(*Edited to say I didn't intend to quote this post)

This thread is so depressing.

Sure, there are workshy young people these days. There were workshy kids in the 80s when I was that age and there were workshy kids at every point in between. However, there are no more workshy kids than there have ever been.

Times have changed and it simply is harder to find jobs these days. For many reasons, almost none of which are the fault of young people. For example:

• The retirement age has risen and there is no longer a statutory retirement age so people can carry on working for longer - fewer openings for new staff
• Automation (and now AI) means fewer staff are needed for the same amount of work (in the early 1990s, 30+ checkout staff would work on a Saturday in Sainsbury's in my town. These days it's more like 7).
• Increasing numbers of women return to work after maternity leave rather than being SAHM.
• And yes, too many new expenses on employers too soon (Employer's NI, NMW rises, increased employment rights). None of them are unreasonable but together over a short period of time, they have spooked employers who have put the brakes on recruitment.

None of this is the fault of young people though.

Agree with a lot of what you say but I don’t think anyone is getting a fully paid for car are they?

A long term health problem is SEND.

Sorry, i don't know if she does. Is it just applicable for those with SEN? Or more for anyone with a long term health problem?

Does this girl have an EHCp?

I am not here to benefits bash but I generally do not understand how young adults have been allowed to languish on benefits.

One half have been told go to university and leave with a large debt (at least 50k, which they pay interest on even before they have left uni), the other half can claim money despite never paying into the system and do not have to pay it back. Then we tell those have found a job that as soon as they start working they have to pay tax and pay back the loan and save up for a house deposit/pay rent and save into a pension, meanwhile the other half are now out of the habit of working and have increased mental/physical health issues that mean they qualify for higher payments and a fully paid for car and social housing (yes, they may have to wait but at least they make it onto the list).

The system needs to be looked at as a whole; education, jobs, benefits, housing and cost of living. They are all connected, you can not tinker with one without affecting the other.

Kept inside with no contact

There has never been a time when it has been so possible to be in contact with others without leaving your own living room!

And of course there was terrible trauma after both world wars, however people still had to carry on as best they could. I'm pretty sure going to school and finding some of your friends had been killed by a bomb was worse than being confined to your house (and no-one was actually confined, they could go out for exercise) for a few months. Ditto your father, brother, uncle being killed in battle, or other family members being killed in raids and/or losing your home.

My DH has a friend who's been on benefits for a long time, many years and since her daughter was very young.

AFAIK, the friend is in fairly good health. Possibly a long term back problem, but nothing that would mentally stop her from finding and holding down a job. She's been on benefits for nearly 15 years, and I sympathise that she's a single mum whose partner passed away from cancer, which is obviously very sad.

But I fear for her daughter, who isn't well either, possibly with ME or some form of Long Covid. This again, extremely sad to hear, but I know she is very bright and could have easily worked hard to achieve all excellent GCSEs. Unfortunately, her poor health has meant she took no exams at all, and now aged 18 has no qualifications and not even maths or English.

I know it's nothing to do with me really at all, and when I raise it with my DH, he just brushes it off and says it's sad, but we have enough of our own things to worry about (which is true). I just know that there might be an element of the mum almost not wanting her daughter to do well, go and get on in life, perhaps she's wanting to see her stay at home and keep her company.

I see a young person whose future is uncertain, with a mum who's not worked and shown a good role model. It makes me feel very sad there is so much potential to do well, but if she wants to do anything with GCSEs, there's not even money to pay for exams now.

Circumstances aside, sometimes the parents are the best example of how maybe not to do things.

We can bank roll their teenage years not their whole lives and they know this - and boy oh boy do they know the terms and conditions of our financial support. It’s not unconditional. They have targets.

We are attempting to instil a work ethic and resilience in them whilst we can. They started their volunteering litter picking - anyone anywhere can start a group doing that. It’s whether you do or don’t.

We as parents are their bed, food, heat, wi-fi. We expect them to revise and do their homework. We expect their behaviour in and out of the house to be polite and decent.

Everyone gets free education up to 18. You can use online resources instead of playing or surfing online to revise and study.

It’s not like competition for decent jobs hasn’t been around for a while or even the importance of scraping a pass in a handful of GCSEs.

Uk schooling and the internet has levelled the playing field. The newly rich (if you want to judge by money) has come about from geeks being able to do stuff, nudging out the old boy’s network in some ways. Employment has never been fair.

We fed/feed and have revision sessions here for a few friends whose family life might not place as much importance on academic results as we do. That was fun!

Too many people make excuses, or wait for the government to produce perfect solutions in a far from perfect world.

If you are 16 and can’t get a job stay in education.

There is more computing power in a mobile phone than they landed on the moon with. It’s what you do with what you have that matters not what you have.

Yes, and I don't endorse that either. I would only add that illness and disability is much more likely as we age. I just wish there was less pitting of groups against each other full stop 😊.

@ThingsAreNotWhatTheyWere this whole thread is full of posters blaming younger people & calling them entitled etc. I just pointed out that the economically inactive figures include 3.5m of 50-64 yr olds with a large proportion of that group stating ill health/disability as the reason. Highlighting that isn’t the same as apportioning blame…but i appreciate the apology.

If they brought the retirement age down there would be more jobs

State pension isn’t affordable though hence why retirement is now 68

Still not affordable though!

That's a bit simplistic though and also actually in my own case completely incorrect.

My parents have always worked. When my bio parents divorced my mum as a single mum worked her arse off full time to keep a roof over our heads.

I genuinely didn't even KNOW of the existence of benefits bar vaguely having heard about "the dole" which wasn't for people like..us?

I never knew you got help if you're were too unwell to work etc.

It was drilled into us that if you wanted anything in life...you worked. So I, and all of my siblings had jobs from as soon as we could (16 for me and my younger sisters both had jobs from 15).

I've actually suffered from severe mental illness since I was 11. I was very badly bullied as a child which unfortunately led to very severe depression and anxiety which led me to be suicidal and self harming by aged 12. At the worst of that I didn't even think I'd live to 16. As it happens I did, and yes I then did what I was supposed to and got a part time job, in retail...

...back in the days where you got paid £3 and hour and god forbid your till was down cos they'd be docking your wages. I was supposed to just be a weekend worker but I was constantly being called in to work every hour they needed. Including during my GCSEs. I still remember them having a go at me for saying I couldnt do a weekday shift as I was literally sitting my exams. We were as young people on a whole treated like shit.

And actually all of it basically was what led to my first suicide attempt. But don't worry my mum was no pushover, she insisted I still went to work the day after the attempt because it would "look bad to call in sick" 🫠

In fact when I applied to uni I got zero support as she very much insisted I did not in any way shape or form tell them I was mentally ill as "they might reject you".

So i did the whole uni thing with zero support, had a pretty fucking bad time of it (witha lots of self harm and suicidal ideation), though did by some small miracle actually graduate 😬

So obviously after uni...you have to get a job! And I, was not in ANY way aware part time work could have been an option..instead I'd been brought up to believe if you worked, you worked full time. End of. In retrospect had I know I could have worked part time and gotten help for my mental illness I actually probably wouldn't have lost that job or experience what happened to me. As it was being very mentally ill I point blank was unable to cope with working full time. So once again I attempted suicide. Did actually almost work, however obviously as a result I then lost my job. And then I was fucked. I didn't know what to do

As stupid as this sounds, I came out of the meeting to tell me I no longer had a job and obviously still being suicidal I remember calling a helpline. They were the ones who advised me to go to the jobcentre to ask for help.

So I did. Had never been on one before. Had no clue what to do. Spoke to someone and told them I was ill, suicidal and had lost my job. They got me an ESA form to fill in (and then got angry and shouted at me for not knowing my national insurance number by heart-after many year of DWP you very much will remember it 😬). I ended up being put into the support group under the severe risk factor (and was always awarded that first time no appeals based on extensive medical evidence)

That then basically in addition to me being taken under the CMHT team led to me basically being declared too unwell to work for the next 3 1/2 years. The difference to now is the ACTUAL help I got. I think I've posted before but for that entire period, I had an NHS psychiatrist I saw every month, I had a community psychiatric nurse I saw every week, I had an occupational therapist I saw every few months, and I saw my (same) GP weekly for support also. After 3 1/2 years I felt well enough to try and work again

Because actually for me..that was the most important thing. ALL I wanted when I was too unwell to work (and after many times being told I might never be well enough to work again) was to be back in work and have a job. Cos to me...work
.having a job...was what "normal" people did.

And thankfully 13 years ago my current employer gave me a chance. And they've been very supportive with Occ healh and adjustments to enable me to KEEP working.

Yes there is a subset of young people with significant disabilities. This is very far from representing the whole number out of work right now.

What’s ‘’ about it? As an employed non-benefit-claimant, if I was hit by a huge bill (and yep that’s happened recently) that I couldn’t pay, nobody would rush to my aid.

How’s this any different?

If they brought the retirement age down there would be more jobs

Of course some people are.

i used to teach at a school that was the local hub for physically disabled students so we had quite a few kids in wheelchairs.

quite a lot of them had problems learning - sometimes Down’s, one lad had hydrocephalus, cerebral palsy, etc etc. some of them had learnt to read and write but quite a few handn’t.

these neets will include young people who are severely disabled and some won’t be able to read or write (and some will be non verbal and use assistive communication).

in theory having an EHCP means you can stay in education until 25 but there is a significant shortage of educational placements that suppprt this level of need and quite a few young people in this situation do spend months or years out of education because there isn’t a placement for them.

when companies can only make so much profit when companies only need so many workers, when other companies are going bankrupt etc where are all the companies that will employ everyone ?

Sorry, I meant to quote @somuchbedding !

But none of those were kept inside with no contact.

And there was terrible trauma after both world wars.

I grew up in the 60’s and 70’s and 80’s. I don’t remeber the Cold War having much impact apart from going on CND marches.

Dh comes from a big mining family. There was a massive sense of community that pulled people through.

Your examples don’t really match up.

Yeah, I think I felt you were attaching blame to them for something they can't help, which is a strong theme on here... Sorry if that is not the case and I've misunderstood!

Older people of working age, I mean!

@ThingsAreNotWhatTheyWere which is why I replied to the original post about the cost to the taxpayer…