Chapter 1: What are the main findings of Alan Milburn's report on youth unemployment?
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I tell you what, this week has been like going back to the late 90s or the early noughties because we had a couple of days where Tony Blair dominated the news headlines in politics. And then we had a day where his former health secretary, Alan Milburn, dominated the headlines in politics. So what's been going on and what exactly did those two old new Labourites have to say?
We'll discuss on this episode of Newscast, which was broadcast, first of all, on BBC One on Thursday night after question time. Newscast.
Newscast from the BBC.
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Chapter 2: How has the landscape of job opportunities for young people changed?
Yeah. It's supposed to be me as a doctor. Daddy has also a special connotation.
Ooh la la. Thinking about it like a panto helped. Do we play music now or what do we do?
Hello, it's Adam in the Newscast studio.
And it's Alex in the Newscast studio.
And it's Simon Jack in the Newscast studio. And please welcome back presenter of The World at One, Sarah Montagu. Hello, Sarah. Hello, Adam. And you've got a head start on us because you covered lots of these stories on The World at One today. I did, but as did you on PM. On PM.
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Chapter 3: What role does mental health play in youth unemployment?
This is Radio 4.
This is Radio 4.
This is it.
Who's doing The World tonight? Who's doing The World tonight? Simon? I might be doing The Ten, but I think I've managed to wiggle my way out of it, actually.
A big common theme of all news programmes today was Alan Milburn and his report into young NEETs, which is people who are not in employment, education or training. Alex, give us the backstory to this big report, which he published today.
So this has been a concern for government and governments for some time. I think it's fair to say the amount, the number and the growing number of young people who are finding themselves unemployed. When we say young people aged 16 to 24 who are not in the workplace, they're not in training and all of the consequences that has for their individual lives, but also wider society and the economy.
So Alan Milburn, who is a former Labour health secretary back in the days of one Tony Blair, he was asked by the government to take a look at the reasons why and then come up with some recommendations that might try and solve this problem.
And this was the first of his two reports that he's going to produce was effectively his assessment of the issue of how broad it is, how deep it is, how bad it is, the impact it's having across society. And then later, we're going to get his recommendations for some solutions.
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Chapter 4: What are the implications of government policies on youth employment?
And Simon, it's a very, very long report with so many tables and annexes. And he's obviously spoken to a lot of people to gather all the data. But sort of the two kind of big themes are that the way young people get into jobs has changed and it's become harder.
And also there are more young people who have maybe mental health conditions that mean they're in the benefit system rather than the employment system.
I hate to boil this down to supply and demand, but there are two factors going on here. One is that the number of entry level jobs is actually markedly fewer than it was a few years ago, 1.6 million fewer jobs. And then on the supply side, there are more people who don't feel up to getting into work for a variety of reasons. So, you know, it is complex and there's lots of factors here.
Mainly, you know, three quarters of the million plus we're talking about is youth unemployment, people who are looking for a job and can't get one. And a lot of that, if you talk to any of the business groups around, will say that, in effect, government policies, it's been a problem for a long time, but it's accelerated over the last couple of years.
And some of that is down to the fact that government policies have made young people in particular more expensive. You know, the 18 to 20 year old rate has gone up 45 percent of the national wage, 23 percent for the regular living wage and riskier with a whole slew of new employment rights.
And most businesses would say if you've got a youth unemployment problem, making them more expensive and riskier to hire is a strange way of going about it.
And Sarah, on Watto, you were talking to a businesswoman and she made it so clear some of the challenges that she's facing.
But before I sort of talk about what she said, it's worth saying that what he was suggesting today is the idea of a complete reset.
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Chapter 5: How do societal expectations impact young people's job search?
of almost everything that we do in society, from education to health to welfare to the job market, because his argument is that it doesn't work for the 21st century, for this generation, and it's striking, really.
He was saying it's not their fault, it's not that they're snowflakes, it's that they are being served very badly and put on a pathway that is directing them to benefits rather than to the jobs. But you...
Because I'll just expand on some of the things you're mentioning there, because Alan Milburn did this news conference on Thursday morning and the stat that jumped out for me from that and what he wanted us to hear was it was something like 80 plus percent of the needs that he surveyed said, oh, I want a job.
So actually, it's only a very small minority of people who can't be bothered or don't want to do it.
You've been hearing testimony really all through the day from young people who find themselves in this situation and some of them are talking about applying for hundreds of jobs and either just getting no response at all or getting knocked back.
And that's what's so unutterably depressing when you hear about it. When you think about in our day, you could literally, you could walk into places, you could call somebody up, you could speak to a human, you could try to get a foot in the door. Now, when you suggest that to young people, which I have done, having a few children of a certain age, you sort of get... It doesn't work like that.
They look at it as if you feel mad. Yeah, it's like... Taking your CV down the high street. Yeah. Which is what I did. I actually did... Printed paper of your CV.
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Chapter 6: What systemic changes does Alan Milburn suggest for addressing youth unemployment?
Yeah, although I made a daughter do that, actually. And she did get some jobs, but then... That's good. Well, yeah, except she was treated so badly. I mean, she didn't know what hours she was, you know, they'd send her home after two hours. Right. So having forced her into it, I'm not sure I was particularly thanked, but she...
The business lobby would say that, wouldn't they, about the fact that they're too expensive and they're riskier to hire.
And the Labour position has always been, before they came into office and during, is that giving younger people secure, well-paid jobs that they can build a life around, rent a flat around, pay a mortgage around, is a worthy endeavour rather than having what they used to call the precariat all-on-zero-hours contracts.
But it just turns out that all of these things happen at the very time that employers are wondering to themselves, how many people do I need at all in the future? So there's some technological issues out there. And you're talking about people who were applying for jobs and it's demoralising them. I did a piece recently.
Not long ago, when we spoke to people who do the first three rounds of interviews, talking to an AI, and they would literally find within seconds, I'm so sorry, good luck with your future endeavors. You haven't got this one. And some of those rounds can take a whole day.
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Chapter 7: What are the challenges in implementing a complete reset of the welfare system?
Take a whole day. You've asked a lot of questions. And then right at the end, it's saying, within seconds, sorry, you're out.
And that is a very demoralizing experience. And Alex, just on Sarah's other point that Alan Milburn was making today about this being a national cause that it should be, and you need changes to schools, colleges, universities, the benefit system, the NHS, a whole systems reset, he described it. I mean, that's a hard thing for a government to do.
I don't think there are many examples of where a government's managed to make that many changes in that many areas of national life in one go.
Absolutely right. And he was almost saying that this has to be the kind of moral cause of government and country. And this has got to be an inflection point and a moment to take stock and everybody's got to do something about it. And he was also making the argument the kind of individual policy ideas or attempts might be noble, but that's not going to be enough.
So he's pointed to things like this government's doing where it's basically offering money. business money to take on apprenticeships or subsidised work placements. Previous governments have done the same. The Conservatives did a kickstart scheme, which effectively did that through COVID.
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Chapter 8: How does the discussion relate to broader political debates in the UK?
The old Labour government, or new Labour government, actually, that Alan Milburn was in himself.
The old Labour government, which was a new Labour government.
Thank you very much for the clarity. I mean, they did exactly the same. They had a new deal, which they effectively were trying to get people off. So it was great, great to do those kind of policy initiatives, but that ain't going to solve it. The question you then have, well, is, well, how do you then achieve a whole system reset?
It's surely got to start with some policy and some ideas and some practical changes in specific areas. And I think just the scale of it that he was outlining begs the question. Yeah, I mean, he's coming up with his report in the autumn. But how then are you going to do this?
Because if you're talking about a problem of that scale in nature, the solution has got to be truly massive and therefore very difficult for a government to deliver.
You mentioned the business woman I spoke to today who was absolutely jaw-dropping in what she was saying because she was effectively describing one element of what you're talking about, the solutions, which is what business can do. And it's clear, I mean, she was saying, we are adapting the culture at work for this generation.
And she basically said it's kind of pissing off a lot of the older staff people who are saying, well, hold on a second. Why are they getting special treatment? Because the things they're needing, they're so anxious, they'll need an anxiety day off to work from home. They don't want to pick up the phone. You know, happy sending messages, don't want to pick up the phone.
She's teaching them just down to like you need to turn up on time.
At the start of your shift, yeah.
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