The news that Labour are putting aside a pot of £1bn to encourage employers to take on longer term unemployed people between the ages of 18 and 24 has been given a cautious welcome by trade bodies.
To be fair, it was the policy the trade bodies were putting forward so they’re pleased the Government has actually finally listened for once, I get that.
The main irritant for many in the sector will be that this grant, which will see employers given £3k for each young person hired (as long as they’ve been claiming benefits for six months), is that one of the big reasons there has been a spike in unemployment in young people is because of Government policy.
Sticking plaster
The increase in employers’ National Insurance contributions, along with above inflation rises to the minimum wage, as well as Government plans to level up minimum wages so 18 year olds would earn the same as older, more experienced workers, has led to most hospitality employers giving young people a swerve.
Yes, the sector that is well known for being one of the places that most people get their first job has found the Government pricing those employees out of the market.
And so here comes that same Government with a sticking plaster to try and cover up the festering wound its gouged out of a sector already on its knees.
I get it that the trade bodies make the point that the scheme is support, of a sort - it’s giving employers an “NI holiday” to get young people into the workforce.
But given the damage the Government has done to this sector, this feels like cold comfort, and something that does little to resolve the longer term underlying problems.
Spiralling unemployment
If the Government really wants to stop spiralling unemployment, rather than wasting valuable money on short term fixes, they need to unshackle hospitality from its oppressive tax burdens and let it kickstart the economy and provide those vital jobs.
And while I mention the fact the Government is chucking money around like Harry Enfield in the 80s (Loadsamoney - one for the kids there), I was unsurprised to see them throwing more than double the above amount at the tech sector.
Yes, that Chancellor, so beloved of hospitality, Rachel Reeves said she was investing £2.6bn into quantum computing and AI to stop British firms and scientists “drifting abroad”.
Here’s a free bit of advice for Reeves and her team - one of the biggest things that will keep UK tech folks in the UK would be to have a thriving cultural scene that makes them want to live here.
With Government policy towards hospitality, when the pubs are gone and restaurants shuttered and the UK is a cultural desert, it doesn’t matter how much money you fling at the tech chaps, they won’t have anywhere nice to spend it.
