Libby Purves Hits the Nail on the Head
Libby Purves got right to the point in The Times yesterday about youth unemployment.
The last two paragraphs sum it all up.
In France, three years ago, Dominique de Villepin, then Prime Minister, tried to address it in a novel way: he proposed flexible job contracts for first-time workers under 26 — the CPE or first employment contract. Within the first two years they could be dismissed with no reason given, and employing any young person who had been six months out of work would exempt you from national insurance. Thus, employers might take a punt, and the young get a chance to prove themselves. Three months later, after violent demonstrations, the Government stepped back and the unions crowed. Now the French stick to the tired old stuff we go in for here — training schemes, internships, fake jobs, anything to keep the figures down.
But it’s real jobs they want, these young: to be needed, useful, a cog in the machine. Even if it’s a job you have to laugh at in the pub that evening. Many young French voices — drowned by union rhetoric — said precarious employment on the CPE would be better than none. I suspect ours would agree. But what politician would dare roll back some of the stifling regulation and expense entailed in giving them a chance?
I have recently had a stroke. I’m better now and can drive again. But in the four weeks when I couldn’t drive, I woulod have loved to be able to recruit a helper, who I could then have fired when I was better.
How many other temporary jobs are there out there, that are unfilled because of the bureaucracy.
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The Anonymous Widower 
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