Minister suggests armed forces recruitment could help cut youth unemployment
Encouraging more young people to join the armed forces could help cut the youth unemployment rate, the Work and Pensions Secretary has suggested.
Liz Kendall said she “absolutely agrees” with calls to ensure more young people join the Royal Air Force, Royal Navy and British Army.
She went on to pledge to put a “plan into action” following talks with the Ministry of Defence.
Youth unemployment
Ms Kendall’s remarks came after Conservative MP Mark Pritchard (The Wrekin) highlighted that youth unemployment stood at 642,000 in October to December last year.
This figure was 136,000 more than the previous year and the unemployment rate for young people was 14.8%, up from 11.9% from the year before.
Mr Pritchard asked in the Commons: “She mentions earlier in her statement ‘earn and learn’, does she agree with me that one way of perhaps attracting some people back into work is for her to have discussions with her colleagues in the Ministry of Defence, the Defence Secretary?
“And would she agree with me that getting more young people into His Majesty’s armed forces – air force, navy, army – would be a starting place?”
“Exciting careers”
Ms Kendall replied: “I absolutely agree with the honourable gentleman.
“Indeed, before I was appointed to this position in opposition, as a constituency MP, I have discussed with my local jobcentre and the armed forces recruitment precisely these issues because of the really exciting careers and opportunities that are available, I think are really important for young people in my constituency and the one that he represents.
“And I will certainly be having more conversations with colleagues in the Ministry of Defence to make sure we put this plan into action.”
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Aren’t their wages more than the dole and they have to be fed, housed, amused and hopefully not used…
If they could make stuff they could sell on e-bay like Remploy and MSP…
Get these ministers out. They fail at their jobs to build prosperity and affordability, so let’s send the kids to die instead. The armed forces should not be a scapegoat for failures
Ddim yng Nghymru. Ddylai’r un Cymro frwydro dros y goresgynwyr.
For a start, the MP’s need to get their heads around the fact that the age group he reffers to have no interest in the Royal family whatsoever, let alone losing limbs for them. The age group he reffers to tend to see themselves as English, Welsh, Scottish nowadays as the “British” thing just isn’t seen as cool by them. Recruitment is down because people in the target age group see their freinds coming home from deployment with limbs missing, disfiguration or extreme mental health problems and then treated like absolute dirt by the country they were tricked into protecting.… Read more »
As a former Army N C O of 9 years i would not want my Grandchildren going into the Army the pay is rubbish the married quarters are full of damp and when you leave no help loads sleeping on the street why should any Welsh youngsters go in both Labour and Tory rob Wales of Billions so why should they fight and die for them when i went in young i was very naive but after working down the pit i changed my thinking
I suspect that soon some wise guy working in a think tank or some other “thing” close to government will suggest mobilising disabled people to drive drones ! They can sit in their chairs in front of screens and amuse themselves whacking distant targets. All done on a wage just about Minimum Wage + a bit of PIP.
That sounds very plausible indeed…
Dulce et decorum est, pro Standard & Poor’s Sovereign Credit Rating mori.
Ah yes, the usual right wing answer of “the armed forces”, and no doubt we’ll be hearing “national service” soon. Why not give young people the opportunity to fight and die or, if they’re lucky, be maimed while partaking in the latest crusade against another confected enemy? If you want to fix the economy, stop wasting money on junk like AI – that bubble is going to burst very soon – and the interminably vast royal family and do one more small, but very important, task: TAX THE RICH! Wholesale tax avoidance has beggared this country, and to fix it… Read more »
My advice to any youngsters considering joining is simple- Don’t.
Junk accommodation, lousy pay, arrogant officers and bullying junior and senior NCOs. XXIV-XLI, I’m talking about you.