Youth unemployment: Where’s the sense of crisis?

By David Talbot

When youth unemployment hit one million during the recession of the 1980s it provoked a national crisis. There were riots in 1981 and 1985, all in inner-city areas suffering from high youth unemployment. The Thatcher government struggled to show that it had the solutions, with its much-derided Youth Training Scheme and Youth Opportunity Programme. There may not be riots today, but as youth unemployment in Britain hits record levels – where is the similar sense of crisis? As the front page of Monday’s Independent asked, who would want to be 18 today?

As George Osborne triumphantly announced that his austere budget was “necessary” and “unavoidable”, he simultaneously sealed the fate of a generation of young people. Funding for the Future Jobs Fund and the young person’s work/training guarantee – along with 10,000 university places and internships for poorer young people – were all cut. A repeat of the lost generation of the early 1980s now looks inevitable. Seemingly nothing has been learned.

Labour at least recognised the scale of the problem with its ‘Backing Young Britain’ campaign in the autumn of 2009, but now that the party is in opposition, what tangible difference can it make? Campaigning vigorously against the rise of the modern day phenomenon of unpaid internships, which are either viewed as an essential means to end – to be endured – or the exploitation of hundreds of thousands of people in the workplace, must be at the heart of Labour’s response.

Unpaid internships stand for all that Labour should not; restricted social mobility, exploitation of labour, unregulated unemployment, capped aspirations and inequality of opportunity. There has been an explosion in the use of internships in recent years as graduates, who are desperate to gain experience in the world of work, are willing to work for free. Indeed, so desperate are some for employment that not only are they willing to work for free but some are actually paying thousands of pounds for the privilege. If selling off work experience to the highest bidder wasn’t bad enough, an increasing number of companies are ditching traditional entry level jobs in favour of extended internships where would-be employees prove themselves through lengthy unpaid work before, with luck, being offered a permanent job. The fierce competition for coveted internships – and the grim labour market in general – mean that those most likely to suffer under the present system are the least likely to complain.

The irony in all this is that the people who would undoubtedly stand to gain most from work experience are those from disadvantaged backgrounds who have least access to it. Unpaid internships are not just exploitative of individuals, but also restrict social mobility as they are disproportionately difficult for graduates from lower socio-economic groups to take up. Access to highly sought-after work will be restricted to those whose parents can afford to subsidise them for months on end, or those that make use of extensive parental contacts – neither are conducive for a free, open and transparent way of people securing work.

Whoever becomes the next leader of the Labour Party ought to take practical first steps to ensure that unpaid internships become a national shame. Establishing a new legal category of interns within employment law and at once ending the ludicrous situation whereby unpaid interns aren’t allowed to claim jobseekers’ allowance, would enable companies to continue offering these opportunities, and ensure young people get a key first foothold in the world of work. The commentators who often sneer at those who dare to point out the current unjust nature of the internship system are often the very people who made it up the ladder by being fortunate and now wish to pull it up after themselves.

Britain is facing a lost generation of young people. Internships can of course be a positive experience and offer a kick-start to a career that many young people value. But equally employers need to know that there’s no such thing as free labour. Young people, with their all their vim and vigor, will struggle against enormous odds in the years to come to secure employment. But denying them the minimum wage, whether agreed or not, is unlawful – and ultimately no one can beat odds like that.