Blanchflower calls for more action to address youth jobless crisis

Professor David Blanchflower didn’t pull his punches when he was a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee and he is making his mark once more with an attack on what he views as the Coalition government’s lacklustre approach to tackling youth unemployment. Blanchflower is reported in the Guardian as wanting zero national insurance contributions for employers who take on younger workers in depressed regions and localities. And he wants greater investment in vocational education in schools and colleges with the school-leaving age raised to 18.

This recent comment piece from David Blanchflower in the Independent offers a strong indictment of the view that unemployment is voluntary. He attacks the government for failing to use fiscal stimulus policies with enough vigour and he criticises the banking system for subduing the recovery with their risk-averse strategies and continued de-leveraging.

You can read his weekly economics comment pieces for the Independent here

Channel 4 news reports on a youth bootcamp with a difference