Cameron’s new plan for unemployed youth

[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n February 17, David Cameron announced a new policy intended to curb unemployment for young people, should Conservatives be re-elected in May. He suggested a new criteria for claimants of the Jobseekers’ Allowance (JSA) to fulfilsix months’ mandatory unpaid community service before granting them benefits.

Although this is sold as a practical solution to supplying young people the jobs they desperately need, Cameron’s policy lacks one key feature. The promise of paid work. Young people are expected to fare on their own, but as long as they are not claiming benefits, it does not seem to matter to the current Prime Minister. In rhetoric, Cameron maintains that their unemployment results from their own neglect to
find work.

Instead of giving young people support to allow them to dedicate their time to searching for jobs, the Conservatives intend to burden them with voluntary work which will not necessary help them fare better in the job market. At the same time, they want to disadvantage young people by forcing them to live on a Youth Allowance which, at £57.35 per week, can hardly be expected to enable them to survive beyond basic necessities.

By placing the burden of finding jobs on young people, the Conservatives only alienate them further. Instead, they should be acknowledging that the problem is borne of government policies which largely ignore young people. However, all they succeed in doing is oversimplifying the issue of benefits claims without truly solving the causes – the lack of paid work with living wages available – and only contribute to an unfair narrative of apathetic and lazy young people.
So, if not young people, who is this policy really aimed at? The answer is simple: tax-payers. In his assertion that young people should be prepared to “play their part and make an effort”, Cameron heavily implies that they are claiming benefits under false pretences of searching for a job. As tax-payers pay for benefits, it only makes sense that they, as voters, would want to see strict criteria restrict access and the Conservatives are only too happy to provide them.

In short, Cameron’s proposed policy only serves to stigmatise and blame young people, who live on benefits, for their unemployment.