The story:

Today saw the launch of the government's £1bn future jobs fund, which will create tens of thousands of jobs and internships for unemployed young people. Aimed primarily at 18 - 21 year olds who have been out of work for at least a year, it will give companies funding to create jobs which help local communities. The first 47,000 jobs are launched today.

Read the New Statesman's news coverage of the story.

What the papers say:

The Guardian

Faiza Shaheen, an analyst at Centre for Cities, says in the Joe Public Blog that the future jobs fund needs to be focused if it is to avoid being a sticking plaster solution, targeting the worst hit cities and young people who have been directly affected by the recession.

Without a clear focus, the £1bn fund will remove young people from the claimant count for 6 months only to see them return, more demoralised than ever. What is clear is that tough decisions will need to be made on where to spend the fund - and on which young people.

The Telegraph

Jon Swaine's news coverage refers disparagingly to the creation of tens of thousands of "soft" jobs, drawing attention to some of the more marginal positions which will be created - solar panel engineers, tourism ambassadors, and dance assistants.


Critics have accused the Government of swelling the state to an even more unaffordable level.

The Daily Mail

The Mail's news coverage is under the headline "50,000 young jobless Britons told to work or lose benefits." In the article, Steve Doughty highlights this aspect of the future jobs scheme, saying that

Every young person who has been out of work for 12 months or more is to be guaranteed a job or a training place, funded by £1billion of taxpayers' money. Those who decline the first offer will lose unemployment benefits for two weeks, a second refusal will mean four weeks' lost benefit, and a third 26 weeks.

 

In numbers:

  • According to the latest figures, 927,000 16- to 24-year-olds are now out of work.
  • This is 40,000 more than a month ago.
  • This month, 400,000 school-leavers will join the jobs market.
  • University applications from the under-20s have surged by 18 per cent.
  • Centre for Cities predicted in a recent report that youth unemployment would treble by the end of 2011.
  • Total unemployment is now 2.3 million. More than 500,000 adults have been out of work for over a year.
  • 935,000 young people are "Neets" - not in education, employment, or training. This has risen by 15 per cent in just one year.
  • Official figures suggest that each new neet leaving school at 16 costs the taxpayer an average of £97,000 during their lifetime.
  • The £1 billion Future Jobs Fund aims to create 150,000 jobs over the next two years. There are already 153,000 eligible young people.
  • Jobs in the public sector have already risen by 168,000 in the last year.