In Great Britain, youth unemployment rate is 20.4%. From a European point of view, such a datum is in line with that registered in the EU, which is nearly 21%. It is much higher than the German one (9%) but, certainly, this result is much more reassuring than the rates registered in Mediterranean countries, such as Spain (45%), Greece (43%) and Italy (28%). If we move from a macro-level to a micro-level analysis, however, this datum acquires a different meaning.
Indeed, according to the data collected by the national institute of statistics in the quarter July to September 2011, British unemployment rate, which involves economically active population, has increased by 8.3%, the highest percentage registered since 1996. Such a phenomenon concerns in particular two categories of Britons, 1.09 million women (this datum has never been so high since 1988) and 1.02 million youths at an age of 16 to 24 (a similar trend was registered only in 1982).
These data clash not only with the Government’s recent commitment to insert at least 350.000 youths into the labour market, but also with the report published by Universities UK Association. This report, indeed, shows that youth unemployment in Great Britain is not related to a supposed weak university education. In spite of the global crisis, indeed, over the last ten years the number of British graduates has increased by 25%. Moreover, according to the report, Universities represent a key sector for British economy with an annual turnover of 30 billion euro. How is it possible that such a huge amount of money is not invested in the creation of new jobs?
A concrete response can be found in the approach adopted by an innovative sector, the so-called “Further education”, whose birth is due to the need to provide students with an entrepreneurial culture able to help would-be workers deal with new economic dynamics. This approach involves those institutions which, through private co-funding, give British best senior year students the chance to interact with successful entrepreneurs and the chancellors of the most prestigious universities in the UK. The motto is “think as entrepreneurs” and organisations give students not only the competence needed to work, but also the ability to exploit their skills and create their own company.
Therefore, “Further Education” represents an important sign of optimism for the young people who can go to University. But what about the others? What about those million youths at an age of 16 to 24 (one about five) like Neet, who do not study or work, and have no possibility to improve their social status? I think about Alberto Moravia who, in his book “Roman Tales” said that unemployment is perceived in a completely different way by those who work and those who do not. As for young Britons, this is cynically true.
On the inside: