Kerre Woodham: Some positivity in Nat's youth unemployment policy

There was, I thought, some positivity coming out of the National Party conference, especially in terms of their policy around youth unemployment.

But of course, the usual voices and the usual critics have come out against it - beating up on vulnerable young people, beneficiary bashing, all the usual shrieks from people who see young, unemployed beneficiaries as victims.

But how can you not care that somebody young, somebody fit and somebody able is languishing on a benefit? How can you not care that young people who are without jobs and without purpose, face a lifetime of being on the scrap heap?

There’s study after study, the most recent one is from Europe, which follows up on previous research on young people who are not in employment, education or training, and it firmly establishes that a lack of education and work experience are the two main driving factors in increasing the likelihood of a young person becoming long-term unemployed.

No surprises there.

It also highlights that long term unemployment dramatically affects several dimensions of young people’s well-being in particular; it decreases overall life satisfaction and increases the risk of social exclusion while decreasing optimism about the future.

So sit on your chuff long enough and you're going to feel that life is not worth living.

You'll probably end up graduating from a job seeker benefit to a sickness benefit if your mental health suffers that much. So we know that being young, fit and unemployed is a recipe for disaster.

I suppose we differ as what to do about it. The Government would have you believe that just giving more money is the answer.

National says there needs to be a measure of the carrot and the stick. Christopher Luxon says we need to help young people get the skills they need to find work, encourage them to stick at a job and reward them if they managed to do so.

The number of young people who have been receiving the job seeker benefit for more than a year has almost doubled since 2017, at a time when so many businesses are screaming for workers, somebody has to care about young people.

Giving them a benefit in consigning them to the scrap heap is not caring.

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