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Youth Employment

I am pleased to have secured this important debate on youth employment, and also unemployment, in Northern Ireland. I believe that investment in youth employment is required on an ongoing basis, which means investing in skills, training and further and higher education. It also means ensuring that our young people do not have to leave Northern Ireland through emigration, which has been one of the hallmarks of the current recession. Many young people have left, particularly from my constituency, to go to Australia for a limited period or, to secure employment, for a longer one. Youth unemployment is both a cause and effect of a large range of social problems. If it is not dealt with, those problems will feed off each other. In Northern Ireland, we must be particularly aware that the risk of having many young people unemployed could play directly into the hands of dissidents who aim to disrupt our community and our way of life. We must grasp the nettle and ensure that that is not the case. I believe that that is an obligation and a duty on all of us, as hon. Members of this House. Youth unemployment has hit a 15-year high in Northern Ireland, with some 18% of people aged 18 to 24 not in work. That is against a backdrop of almost 1 million young people out of work in the UK, according to the latest figures. The annual increase in jobseeker’s allowance claimants in Northern Ireland is the largest for any region. Over the past year, 3,900 people have joined the dole queue, an increase of 7%, compared with the rise of 0.3% in the UK. Critically, the trend of increasing long-term unemployment is most alarming, with Northern Ireland experiencing a sevenfold increase in long-term unemployment among 18 to 24-year-olds since the recession. The problem can be directly related to the general state of our economy at the moment. Figures released by the Department of Finance and Personnel indicate that private sector output has returned to a level that was last seen in 2003.