Press Release
3rd June 2020
“Massive Youth Unemployment Shock will Require Major Response in post Covid World” says Leading Youth Organisation
Youth Work Ireland has said that the revelation that about half of all under 24’s are unemployed means there will be a need for a major youth unemployment initiative after the virus has been fully controlled. The organisation, which runs a number of employment programmes for disadvantaged young people around the country, believes the CSO figures illustrate that young people have suffered most due to the Corona Virus and that generally this type of unemployment is harder to combat and more long lasting. The group now believes that a specific and dedicated programme focussed on the needs of young people will be needed to avert the obvious problems associated with such a large amount of youth unemployment. The organisation has said that the climate for such an approach should be more benign than the last recession as there will be a Europe wide stimulus package and the underlying economic factors are better for a once off set of measures
“We have seen previously how young people can be the first to suffer when there is an increase in unemployment and also how stubborn such an increase can be. In the last recession we saw that young people were the worst affected by the recession and the responses were less than ideal. We also saw a huge exodus of young people to emigration as a traditional safety valve which may not be available with the Covid 19 situation being a global one. We will need a major dedicated programme now for young people to ensure they do not drift into a life of unemployment and disconnection. It will be crucial to ensure that there is an offer of a quality job, education or training for all young people in the months and indeed years after normalisation” Said Michael Mc Loughlin from Youth Work Ireland
“We are awaiting the formation of a new Government and there will be many challenges to be faced. Clearly the overall economic situation has to be top of the agenda and jobs and employment must be central. In considering this the particular impact of unemployment on young people has to feature. Young people who suffer unemployment younger in life are usually impacted longer term and have significantly reduced opportunities. There is some positive news with the EU examining a major €500bn stimulus scheme which could form a very positive backdrop. There is clearly a need to decide that the burden of the crisis does not fall on the backs of young people. The underlying economic situation is better than the last recession and young people’s needs have to be central to the recovery” Mc Loughlin added
ENDS
Contact: Michael Mc Loughlin 087 6677499
