Now is not the time to be a young person in London looking for a job – not that you get any choice in the matter. In the country as a whole, there are 90,000 fewer young people under 24 in employment since the election. And London, as we report today, is being harder hit by job losses than anywhere. For 18-24 year olds, those in the prime of youth, the unemployment rate is startlingly high: it rose to 18.8 per cent in the year to September. That was only exceeded in the pandemic and the wake of the last recession in 2009. And that, folks, is just youth actively looking for work. The ones who’ve given up trying to go on mental health benefits don’t count. The figures don’t improve on scrutiny. The growth areas are those funded by the taxpayer, notably the Behemoth that is the NHS; the areas hit most acutely are retail and hospitality – shops, bars and restaurants – which are especially good at employing young folk and especially vulnerable to tax changes that penalise jobs.
So, is there anything concrete we can do to help these unfortunate youths, who include, I may say, my own children? There’s no reversing the large scale reasons for the decline – notably the Chancellor’s disastrous hike in National Insurance contributions from employers, pretty well a tax on jobs – but how about small practical measures? Let me suggest a Robin Hood approach whereby older Londoners could transfer a benefit to younger ones.
