Jobless youth rate shows young people abandoned by National

new-zealand-labour-party

Fri Jan 07 2011 13:00:00 GMT+1300 (New Zealand Daylight Time)

Jobless youth rate shows young people abandoned by National

Friday, 7 January 2011, 1:19 pm
Press Release: New Zealand Labour Party

Jobless youth rate shows young people abandoned by National
The highest youth unemployment rate in 20 years is an indictment on the National Government, says Labour’s Youth Affairs spokesperson Jacinda Ardern.

“OECD figures put the youth jobless rate at 19.8 percent, meaning one in five young people are now out of work,” Jacinda Ardern said.

“While unemployment rates for young people have been soaring the Government has sat back and done nothing to try and improve the economy. Now a large number of young people who want to work have been abandoned by the government.

“The Minister for Youth Affairs, Paula Bennett, has continuously heralded schemes such as Job Ops and Community Max for making ‘a real difference to youth’. But the latest OECD figures show those schemes simply aren’t making a difference in youth unemployment rates.

“Clearly the National Government has no practical long term solution to tackling this issue,” Jacinda Ardern said.

“It's time the government looked at the solutions used in Australia, for instance, investing heavily in skills training and tertiary education to help young people into long term work. Instead our government continues to limit access to these options.

“Young people want to work, but sadly the National Government’s mishandling of the economy means young people are bearing a large part of the brunt for their failure to recognise that New Zealand needs active economic management. The wait and see approach that National adopted has failed.

“When is National going to do something about unemployment in New Zealand?

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