Hire a hoodie to tackle job crisis, says minister

BOSSES should “hire a hoodie” to tackle the jobs crisis, a government minister said yesterday.

Chris Grayling, the employment minister, said companies could help turn “surly young men . . . into excited and motivated employees”.

In comments that echo David Cameron’s “hug a hoodie” speech of 2006, Mr Grayling urged employers to take on local youths who might look “unwilling to work” rather than Eastern Europeans.

The employment drive was given a further boost yesterday with the release of figures showing that the number of jobless had fallen by 35,000 this quarter, the first decline in almost a year.

In a speech to the Policy Exchange think tank, Mr Grayling urged companies to “put local recruits first” and not go for the “easy” option of hiring older and more experienced Eastern Europeans.

“It’s easy to hire someone from Eastern Europe with five years’ experience and who has had the get up and go to cross a continent in search for work,” he said.

“But those who look closer to home find gems too. Very often the surly young man in a hoodie who turns up looking unwilling to work can turn into an excited and motivated employee.

“It’s all about the expectations that they have, and the place they come from. And employers who give them that chance find it enormously rewarding. So I stand four-square behind my hope that employers will

put local recruits first.” The fall in overall unemployment has been bolstered by an increase of 80,000 in the number of people working part time in the three months to February, the figures showed.

The number of people with full-time jobs actually fell by 27,000. The number of unemployed women rose by 8,000 over the quarter to 1.14 million, the highest figure in 25 years.

The long-term unemployed — those out of work for more than a year — rose by 26,000 to 883,000, the highest since 1996. Mr Grayling said: “Today’s figures are a step in the right direction but we still have a long way to go.

“We are pushing ahead with our strategy to promote investment and new jobs in the private sector and support people without work to take up those jobs.”

Graeme Cooke, a director at the IPPR think tank. said: “The Government’s priority must be to prevent long-term unemployment with a job guarantee and to support women to get back to work.”

David Kern, chief economist at the British Chamber of Commerce, said the figures were “broadly positive.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, is proposing financial incentives to encourage graduates from leading universities to choose careers in engineering and manufacturing instead of the City.

Under the scheme, students could be offered £2,000 a year at university to commit to three years employment at a British company.

In 2006 Mr Cameron urged Britons to “hug a hoodie” and show more love to disaffected young people.

He said teenagers who hide under hooded tops were trying to “blend in” rather than appear threatening.