Dismantling the Budget 5: Jobs and Training
by Part five of deconstructing the budget, looking at Alastair Darling’s plan for the British economy. In this section I will be looking at Jobs and training.
• Government support for economy to protect 500,000 jobs
Jobs for who and in which sector? 500,000 jobs in the city, high flying, high paying bankers and accountants? Or 500,000 people in the rural communities of Britain who’s jobs have been under threat for decades? It’s these small communities who feel the impact of job loss the most, yet conversely are probably worth the least to the government.
• All long-term unemployed under 25s to be offered job or training.
It’s called secondary school and college. Vocational courses, as well as academic ones have been available for some time now, and are free, or can be subsidised by local councils. This is not new. Job security, or actually having a job to go to when you’re trained is a big issue, so where and how does Labour plan on making sure that when companies are closing down or tightening belts left right and centre, these new potential recruits have somewhere to go?
• £1.7bn additional resources for Job Centre network.
Because it works so well at the moment. Instead of throwing money at this bureaucracy, why can’t we streamline it and make it more efficient? Money would be required for this, but £1.7 billion?
• £250m funding to help people get work experience in growth industries.
This is actually a good idea. Experience is a VITAL part of finding a job, any many companies are happy to take on an unpaid intern and get some free work out of them. Experience can even convince companies to hire when they would normally avoid bringing on new staff. However, if the jobs are not there, making people more employable isn’t going to help at all.
• Funding to create 54,000 new places in sixth form education
Wasn’t there a controversy not long ago about there not being enough young adults in 6th form education? Instead of getting more people into education, let’s make sure that the people who are already there get the education and training that is right for them. No more people want a job as an electrician doing French. Once the system is working, we can expand it.
Part 1: Alcohol, Cigarettes and Fuel
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