The tragedy of mass youth unemployment - loss of consumer demand. Really?
Is this what politicians really think of us? Here is Peter Mandelson, business secretary in the last Labour government, speaking about youth unemployment:
People recognise that it is a massive waste of resource, a ticking timebomb, a loss of consumer demand. It is one of the most important issues this year.
Wow. Nothing about the human factor, the impact on people’s lives, the sheer waste of talent, skills, energy. We are just seen as a resource, a timebomb, and missing cash in tills.
I was speaking to a recent graduate today who wanted to get into environmental work. She is thinking of moving to West Africa as it will be easier for her to get a job there than in the UK.
Do politicians not recognise that there needs to be a more fundamental overhaul of the system, that throwing money at the problem might help, but it is not going to make it go away? And that the problem might be around longer than just this year? How about if some of these young people were given the opportunity to solve some of these problems? Then we might get some fresh, real solutions.
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