15.03.12
Labour guarantees work for unemployed under-24s
Ed Miliband is to launch a ‘guarantee’ to offer work to unemployed young people. The party would pay firms to employ up to 100,000 18-24 year olds, with money raised by a bank bonus tax.
The scheme would cost £600m for 25 hours per week at minimum wage for each person. This would cover the employee’s training and development for a minimum of 10 hours a week to help secure a permanent job.
Young people offered the scheme would be encouraged to take up the opportunity, or face “tough consequences”.
Miliband will suggest that, if Labour were in power, the first line of their Budget would be “real jobs, real wages, a real chance for our young people”.
He will say: “To business we say, we’ll pay the wages, if you provide the training. To young people: if you're out of work for a year we’ll guarantee you the opportunity to work.”
This differs from the Coalition’s scheme, the £1bn Youth Contract, which will provide £2,275 to employers to take on 160,000 young people for six months.
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