Youth Employment Strategy Published

The Scottish Government has published their youth employment strategy which includes a number of measures to improve the employment prospects of young people in Scotland.  The strategy,  Action for Jobs – Supporting Young Scots into Work, includes plans for a Social Enterprise and Third Sector Challenge Fund and recognises the key contribution that the sector will make to their plans for tackling rising youth unemployment.  They will:

• Support the continuation of Community Jobs Scotland to create 1,000 subsidised jobs for 16-19 year-olds in the third sector in 2012/13;

• Incentivise employers to support up to 1,000 young people facing the greatest disadvantages, including care leavers and young carers

• Continue to support the innovative, entrepreneurial Inspiring Scotland model

• Launch a Social Enterprise and Third Sector Challenge Fund to enable social enterprises and specialist third sector organisations to provide innovative and strong support for young people into jobs.

The strategy recognises that youth unemployment is a complex problem and that there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution, instead focusing on a broad range of measures designed to help young people from various backgrounds. 

Public sector contracts will also contain community benefit clauses that will ensure measures to help train and employ young people are included in bids for public contracts. Further opportunities will be provided through Community Planning Partnerships, local authorities and the NHS, while the commitment to continue to fund apprenticeships remains on track at 25,000 per year.

Tags: Employability, Policy, Scottish Government, Youth