Making the Work Programme work

Last week David Milband showed some real class when he presented the recommendations from his Commission on Youth Unemployment. This was a sober and intelligent review of the crisis and the government would do well to take note. He has welcomed the introduction of job subsidies under the new Youth Contract, which will come in from April, but is right to urge a boost in the number of these that will be made available to employers. His idea to set up Youth Employment Zones in hotspots of worklessness around the country is also a solid idea that should be lifted by ministers. One element that was not highlighted by the report was self-employment. It makes sense for the government to pay for emergency stop-gap jobs at a time of low growth, but for recovery to be sustainable new jobs with need to be created by start-up businesses. Unemployed graduates in particular should be encouraged to set up their own businesses: to my mind this is where any large-scale pump priming from state funds should take place.