It’s noteworthy enough when David Blanchflower – a member of the Bank of England’s MPC until May this year – says that the government “isn’t doing enough” to stem the unemployment crisis, as he does in an article for today’s Guardian. But his more specific points about the “lost generation” of unemployed young people are also worth highlighting.
As Fraser blogged yesterday, this recession is taking a particular toll on those aged under 25. Partially, this is down to school and university leavers being unable to find work. But, as Blachflower points out, there’s another effect at play – young people with jobs are the first in line to lose them, as firms make redundancies:
“A policy of last in, first out is also operating. One year ago, those aged between 16 and 24 accounted for about 14% of overall employment – since then, more than five in every 10 jobs shed has been lost by someone in that age bracket.”
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