Autumn Statement 2013
Youth unemployment remains close to 1 million, and the government’s existing schemes are proving not to work. In particular, the Youth Contract has failed to deliver anywhere near the number of subsidised job places that were promised.
So it was a chance for the Chancellor to announce that it was time for young people to share in the jobs growth that others are beginning to benefit from. Instead we got a limited promise on employer national insurance which won’t take effect until 2015 (with employers exempt from paying NICs for young people aged between 16-20 earning less than £42k a year), and a sensible change to the 16 hour rule to allow young people to take up a traineeship which includes over 16 hours of learning while claiming JSA.