Lost generation

The big employment news of the week in Tuesday’s ONS release is not the 9 million, about a quarter of working age UK adults, who are economically inactive or unemployed. We knew that already.

It is the 3 million and rising economically inactive under 25s. This group represented about 20 per cent of working age adults a little over 30 years ago, when there was mass unemployment of over 3 million. They now make up about 40 per cent when unemployment is less than 4 per cent of working age adults.

So what has gone wrong? There has been a mental health crisis exacerbated by Covid, there are 2 million estimated long Covid sufferers, there are fewer opportunities for training due to government cuts in vocational education and reduced places in universities for Scottish students. Many people are finding the excessive cost of childcare means it is better to stay at home than take on multiple part-time jobs to make ends meet.

Even so, it’s difficult not to conclude that many more young people could work. This has become a major political issue, with Labour claiming they would find resources for specialists to work with those affected by mental health, to help them find employment. This is preferable to the current approach of record immigration to fill vacancies when fewer than 20 per cent of immigrants are entering the country for work, while many of their dependents are choosing not to work.

It all means that millions of young people are contributing little to society and one wonders how that will play out for health and social services in the decades to come. A ticking time bomb is looming.

Neil Anderson

Edinburgh