Anneliese Dodds – 2020 Comments on a Youth Unemployment Scheme

The comments made by Anneliese Dodds, the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, on 2 September 2020.

Labour has repeatedly called for a youth employment scheme that matches the scale of today’s jobs crisis, just as the Future Jobs Fund did at the time of the global financial crash.

The Labour Government in Wales has done just that with its Jobs Growth Wales scheme: bringing local authorities, employers, trade unions and other stakeholders together to help young people into work without impacting older workers.

But the Conservative government’s Kickstart scheme, which has been delayed, already looks like it lacks that cross-organisational coordination. It will only work if employers and jobseekers have clarity and confidence that the scheme will lead to meaningful work. The Government can’t afford to get this wrong.