What it’s like to be young and looking for work in Britain,
This article brings a real tear to eye. It makes you realise just how many well qualified and well motivated young people are fenced out of the labour market by the recession What is upsetting is the hopeless position they feel they are in. There are two really poignant narratives from youngsters in Northumberland and Kendal which give a rural context.
The person from Kendal says: “The job-seeking system isn’t really set up for graduates, or people with a lot of previous employment like me. All the training and support they have is fantastic if you’re 16 and haven’t many qualifications. But the jobs they point me towards – and I have to apply for them – often aren’t particularly suitable. I’m in a much better position than many other people because I’ve been able to move back home to Kendal. It’s a bit weird. I haven’t lived here since 2005 and all my friends have moved away. I don’t know that many people here any more. But it could be worse. My rent is minimal.”
I am sure that in the Farmers of the Future Project which we evaluated in Teesdale I have seen a viable alternative to some of this, which provides scope for those who want to work and live in their rural localities to make a reasonable fist of doing just that. There isn’t space to tell the full tale here but in essence the programme involved supporting 12 young people by providing them with the certificated skills to work as farm contractors, underpinned by real life experiences in agricultural settings and significant encouragement to develop and hone their entrepreneurial skills. Most of them have used this combination of self employment and their new skill base to carve a niche out for themselves in their own localities. One has even been providing employment for a couple of other trainees he met on the scheme. None have gone past the ripe old age of 21 yet. I am currently working up a Leader proposal to develop a similar scheme in North Notts/Lincolnshire based on retail and food processing placements. We are desperate to find a modest amount of matched funding to make the whole thing viable – if you have any ideas PLEASE LET ME KNOW. I genuinely think this approach can work over many sectors in many different types of rural economies.
If you want more evidence of young people’s enthusiasm to work in none traditional office environments, including from home have a look at this interesting companion article in the telegraph