Covid-enforced lockdown: the government will fund six-month job placements for the under 25s.
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Responding to the fears of a surge in youth unemployment, Rishi Sunak plans to make a temporary job creation scheme for under 25s. The project is worth £2bn. It is because the pandemic which forces lockdown makes young workers harder to get jobs than other age groups.
Temporary job creation programme proposed by Rishi Sunak
Sunak will fund six-month job placements for an estimated 350,000 18 to 24-year-olds. The government will explain three-point strategy to support, protect and retain jobs. But Whitehall’s concern about an imminent 1980s-style increase in unemployment was reflected in the government’s willingness to revive an idea used by Labour during the global financial crisis, and in the rapid timetable for the “kickstart scheme” to become operational.
The Treasury said that companies should start making applications for the jobs within a month. So that the first young people can start to work in autumn. It is too risky if we wait for his autumn budget to come up with a jobs package to help the heavy concentrations of young people working in the retail, leisure and hospitality sectors. Even though the economy started to grow gradually after the pandemic quarantine, Sunak told.
Salary for under 25s
People under 25 receive starting at £4.55 an hour for someone under 18, rising to £6.45 an hour for 18 to 20-year-olds and £8.20 an hour for 21 to 24-year-olds. The scheme is mainly focused at people aged 18 and above because most 16 and 17-year-olds are in education or apprenticeships.
It should be done because in the first two months of the Covid-19 crisis the number of 18 to 24-year-olds claiming universal credit rose by a quarter of a million to almost 500,000, while 700,000 school leavers and university graduates will enter a depressed jobs market this summer.
Worrying data and proposals
The data which used by the chancellor’s statement is an attempt to stem the damage from a forecast 14% slump in GDP this year. The number came according to the Bank of England. While a potential rise in the unemployment rate from 3.9% to 15%, based on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Alongside the youth scheme, the chancellor will announce a £3bn programme to make homes and public buildings more environmentally friendly. The state will fund each “kickstarter” job, covering 100% of the national minimum wage for 25 hours a week and with employers able to provide wage top-ups.
The Treasury said the subsidised jobs would give young people the opportunity to build their skills in the workplace. They also can gain experiences and improve their chances of going on to find long-term sustainable work. Sunak is also expected to announce a £111m investment to triple the scale of traineeships in 2020-21, and an extra £32m for the National Careers Service.
