Improved support for young people is vital for better employment prospects says local MP.
The All Party Parliamentary Group for Youth Employment, chaired by Michael Tomlinson MP, has released a report titled ‘Pathways from education to employment’ at the latest meeting of the group.
At a busy meeting, the report and its findings were presented to the Minister for Employment, Damien Hinds MP. The APPG seeks to increase opportunities for young people to find good jobs and has highlighted a number of areas for improvement including, better careers advice, more work experience and mentoring.
The cross-party group has been meeting regularly to hear from young people and employers to discover some of the issue and challenges that sees the youth unemployment rate remain higher that the overall unemployment rate.
Michael Tomlinson MP said “I am delighted with the work of the APPG for Youth Employment this year and I am grateful that the Minister has taken the time to come and hear about our work and receive our report. Youth unemployment has fallen significantly but I want to see even more done to improve the opportunities for our young people.”
The release of the report come on the day that new figure reveal that overall employment in the Uk is at its highest ever level with the unemployment rate falling to 4.7%, its lowest level in over 30 years. The good news continues for youth employment with the unemployment figure falling to 12.3% from 13.7% last year and significantly down from the high of 22.5% in late 2011.
The figures follow the announcements from the Chancellor in this month’s budget that £500million per year is to be invested into technical education to improve skills and provide better routes into skilled jobs for young people.
Michael Tomlinson added “These figures are hugely encouraging and the announcements of more funding for technical education and the huge drive to boost apprenticeships, means that I am confident that we can see ever greater improvements in the future. I look forward to working with Ministers to continue this good work.”