"Youngsters Need Chance to Work"

There's a little article in the Herald today that provoked a response, not because I agree with it entirely, but because it proves that there is still a massive amount of misunderstanding towards unemployed young people.

It is, by and large, a very encouraging little piece reporting what a certain Counsellor Bowyer says about unemployment in the Plymouth area. He understands what the employment market in Plymouth is like and admits that, "Plymouth is likely to make a slower recovery from the recession than other parts of the South West". To combat this he proposes creating incentives for employers to take on younger people, but the reason why he proposes this is what worries me.

Don't get me wrong - I welcome his ideas with open arms if it will help me and my peers to get a job, but his reasons for getting young people out of unemployment are not to stop us from becoming disillusioned or politically apathetic, but to stop us from, "getting bored and getting into crime".

Are those the only options we have? Employment or crime? Jesus - it's like we're holding the country to ransom or something. "Gizza job or I'll start muggin' old ladies in the street, innit." Get a grip. The reasons why we should be singled out and given help into employment are not so superficial.