NIACE responds to employment white paper Thursday, December 17, 2009 - 10:32

Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment proposes to combat the effects of the recession and work towards an employment rate of 80%.

NIACE welcomes the continued commitment to active labour market policies and the continuing integration of employment and skills support, especially around the training of unemployed people.

In particular NIACE supports the direction of travel towards more personalised services in Jobcentres with greater sensitivity to users with mental health needs; improved services for people with disabilities and recognition of the role of volunteering in keeping people connected to the labour market.

Although the paper's focus on the position of new entrants to the labour market is understandable, since the recession has hit younger adults hardest, there is also welcome sensitivity to the position of people over the age of 50 with proposals for flexible work opportunities and better access to support.

Despite these positive developments, NIACE does have some concerns that Building Britain's Recovery makes so few references (just three) to the new skills strategy, Skills for Growth.

Peter Lavender, NIACE's Deputy Chief Officer, said:

"Although there will be 12 million new jobs to be filled over the next decade there are only 7 million young people in the education system to fill them. Even if migrants fill some of the gap the remainder will have to be drawn from people who would otherwise be outside the labour force. This means more attention needs to be given to older workers and others currently inactive. Government policies are still in denial about the demographic shift in the population."

"If we are to encourage a culture of learning for new arrivals it is of critical importance for learning opportunities for those already in the workplace are made available. This will mean focusing hard on the utilisation of the skills people already have that are so often unused."

Nick Wilson, a member of NIACE's Policy Committee, said:

"We need to rethink, fundamentally, our approach to supporting people who are made redundant, are willing to work but face particular barriers. This will involve more early intervention through education and training initiatives - including informal learning. It also means on-going support so that hundreds of thousands of people can remain mentally active and committed while waiting for labour market conditions to improve."