The Scottish Trades Union Congress (STUC) has given a cautious welcome to the announcement by Deputy Prime Minister that £1 billion has been found to tackle youth unemployment throughout the United Kingdom.

Grahame Smith, STUC General Secretary said

“The Government has to accept that we now have over one million unemployed young people in the United Kingdom not just as a consequence of their failing economic strategy but a direct result of scrapping the Future Jobs Fund and taking nearly eighteen months to introduce something that appears, at this early stage, to be fairly similar.

“The private sector has not risen to the challenge the Government set to create employment and open opportunities to those made redundant in the public sector. Jobs are continuing to be stripped from the UK economy and our fear is that despite the short term opportunity provided for young people through the Youth Contract this will not deliver long term sustainable employment and the security this provides for our young generation.

“We recognise the work that is happening throughout Scotland and it is clear from the seminar hosted by the Secretary of State for Scotland at Falkirk Stadium that if young people are engaged in the employability agenda, provided with the appropriate training and placed in the right work environment then they provide a valuable contribution to the employer, they are more confident and, more importantly they have a future.”

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