Richard Burden MP: Fighting for a fair deal for everyone in Birmingham Northfield

Jobs for young people (7 May 2009)

Creating jobs for young people in Birmingham

In the last recession young people were left on the scrapheap. I am determined that this should not happen this time. Every young person deserves a fair deal. That is why I have welcomed the government’s guarantee that every young person who would otherwise be long term unemployed gets a job or training.

Labour’s Budget for Jobs announced a new £1bn Future Jobs Fund which aims to create 150,000 jobs for people at risk of long term unemployment.

The Future Jobs Fund is part of more than £3bn investment in extra skills and training for jobseekers, which has enabled to Government to be able to guarantee work or training to every 18 to 24 year old who is in danger of becoming long term unemployed.

The government aims to have that guarantee in place by January but are looking to develop jobs fund places as quickly as possible.

The Labour government has put up the money, now it is up to us to come up with the ideas as to how we can give real jobs in the community to young people who are out of work.

We need to work together to make sure we use this opportunity to help young people get jobs but also to make sure those jobs help the community.

I am already looking into how organisations like Jobcentre Plus are responding to the extra demand from the current economic downturn. I am also working with the City Council and a range of others to develop an employment and skills plan for the Northfield constituency.

But I also want to hear your ideas for what needs doing locally.