NEET figures still rising

Jaime Davies

The number of NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) youth in the UK has risen to 18.4%. One year ago NEET figures were at 16.3%. It is no coincidence that the figure has risen sharply and steeply under the rule of the Con-Dem coalition.

The NEET figures are disgraceful but they come as no surprise due to the savage cuts regime being implemented all over Britain by the Con-Dem government and in Wales by the Labour-led Welsh Assembly. Simply put, there are hardly any jobs out there.

Finding work under these conditions is particularly hard on young people as employers are more likely to fill limited places with older, more experienced workers.

A lot of young people cannot afford university tuition fees and so will miss out on an education. Even young people wanting to go to college or sixth form who rely on EMA will suffer since it's been scrapped.

A striking example of just how bad the situation for young people looking for a job is would be the town of Merthyr Tydfil in South Wales. Youth Fight for Jobs recently took action after Tory MP Iain Duncan Smith implied that the working class people of Merthyr were too lazy to get on a bus to Cardiff and find a job, in light of the staggering 84 JSA claimants to every one vacancy in the town.

Youth Fight for Jobs marched 26 miles over three days from Merthyr to Cardiff, to show Duncan Smith that unemployed people aren't too 'lazy' to get a job. In Cardiff, with local people alone there are nine claimants to one job vacancy!

In order to change this drastic situation for the better what we need and deserve is a real alternative to the cuts - and to replace the current capitalist system! The only future for my generation is a socialist future - a future that caters to the needs of the millions and not the millionaires!

It is important that we all support and campaign for the upcoming Jarrow to London march for jobs and put pressure on this weak coalition government.

Let them know that the youth have a voice and are willing to take organised action against their attacks on our living standards and futures.

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