Notes on the Front

Don’t be under any illusions:  there is an economic war being waged against
young people.  It is being fought on a
number of fronts:  education, social
protection, labour market and even cultural. The fact that one-in-three children suffer multiple deprivation experiences shows the level of casualties. 
It is the ultimate victimisation: 
if you want to buy into that ‘we all partied’ line, knock yourself out;
but how can this possibly apply to the young? 
Young people are no longer being raised to be the subjects of tomorrow;
today, they are being turned into mere objects. 

A whole book could be written about the war on youth.  In this and a subsequent post I just want to
highlight a couple of things.  They may
not be the most important battlefields but they are indicative of a mind-set
that, on the one hand, claims to help, but actually targets.

Take the interacting stories presented by the
Government:  the Youth Guarantee and the
cutting of social protection payments for those under 26 (punctuated by the one
of the more hilarious rationales for any spending cut – the Tainaste’s claim
that youth unemployment payments were actually not cut). 

The Youth Guarantee is potentially an extremely positive
development.  In the Government’s
formulation a young person would be offered a job, work experience,
apprenticeship, or training after eight months of being unemployed (in the EU
Commission’s formulation, the offer would be made within four months of leaving
education or becoming unemployed).  The
Government has set aside €14 million for additional job training places.  Mary
Lou McDonald, TD pointed out that the Government announced only 4,500
additional places (and further pointed out that last year the Government
promised 10,000 places and only provided 5,000). 

The 4,500 additional places – if they emerge – must be compared
to the overall level of youth not in employment, education or training
(NEET).   The actual number is hard to
come (if anyone has one I'd be grateful).  We know that there are nearly
65,000 youth unemployed, of whom 22,000 have been unemployed for more than one
year.  In SIPTU Youth’s analysis,
52.7 percent of NEETs are unemployed. 
Extrapolating from these numbers (estimating the number unemployed for
over eight months which is not a category in the CSO release), I would suggest that the number of young people that could avail of the Government’s scheme
would be 74,000 – admittedly, a back of the calculator estimate.

So, the 4,500 is only a small start – affecting only 6
percent of those that would qualify.   Of course, even this depends on quality and
provision.  And here is a potential
problem.  For instance, community worker
Mary O’Donoghue (@MaryfromClare) tweeted:

‘In West Clare there are absolutely NO training and
education opportunities for people aged 19-22 yrs -the lucky ones emigrate.’

And there’s nothing to suggest that, on completion of an education or training course, the Government will guarantee a job for young people
– and this is probably the most important elements in the
Youth Guarantee.

So let’s sum this up: 
the Government is taking €35 million off young people through cuts
in youth unemployment payments, abolition of the long-term bonus paid to FAS /
VTOS / Youthreach recipients, and the requirement that FAS apprentices pay a
pro-rate student contribution (none of this counts the cuts to general education
– the cut to higher education, the cut in the capitation grants to primary and
secondary schools, etc.). 

That’s €35 million.

The Government is giving back €14 million for funding a
Youth Guarantee programme to fund 4,500 places which will accommodate approximately
6 percent of those in need.

It’s like a pickpocket who takes money out of your pocket,
gives a little bit back, and then demands that you be grateful for the ‘gift’.

That is how things stand at the front, in the on-going war
against the youth.

Next post:  Our Lazy, Lazy Children