Work-guarantee call for long-term unemployed

MORE than 1,600 long-term unemployed across Oldham should be handed a job in local government or the voluntary sector on minimum wage — or have benefits cut, a report today says.

The Institute of Public Policy Research said long-term unemployment is the “hidden crisis of the slowest economic recovery” and the Government should guarantee the work for anyone out of work for more than a year. It would mean 1,685 people in Oldham who have claimed out of work benefits for more than a year would get employment.

IPPR chief economist Tony Dolphin said: “Being out of work for more than a year can have a scarring effect, making it harder to get a job, even when employment starts to pick up again.

“The Government should guarantee everyone who has been unemployed for more than a year a job at the minimum wage in local government or the voluntary sector. But with that right should come the responsibility to take that job or risk losing their benefits.”


MORE than 250 young Oldhamers, jobless for at least 12 months, would be offered paid work for six months under plans announced by the Labour Party.
Leader Ed Miliband fears a generation of young people is at risk of being left behind as youth unemployment continues to rise.

The Real Jobs Guarantee scheme would use Government money to pay businesses to employ those out of work, in return for providing training and support to improve their chances of a gaining a permanent job.