Government advises unemployed young people to join the military instead of university
This comes as the government announced more than 300,000 new work experience and training placements - including those in industries including construction and hospitality - will be available as part of "job related training"
Labour has told jobless young people to consider joining the military instead of going to university, as millions of youngsters face unemployment.
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The number of the UK’s 16 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training – known as Neets – rose to more than a million, figures published on Thursday confirmed.
Labour has now turned to telling Neets to "seriously" consider joining the armed forces instead of going to University.
This comes as the government announced more than 300,000 new work experience and training placements - including those in industries such as construction and hospitality - will be available as part of "job-related training".
Louise Sandher-Jones, a defence minister, told The Telegraph: “A really key message to get out there to young people is when you’re looking at options in front of you, whether it’s university or whether you’re looking for a trade apprenticeship, really seriously take a look at the Armed Forces.”
She added that, although university is the right option for some, “the breadth of careers you can go into with the Armed Forces is much broader than people realise”.
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Those as young as 16 can start a military apprenticeship.
Ms Sandher-Jones said the alternative to university had not been “well communicated to young people” in the past.
“We have a very clear pathway from school to university, which is great. [But] we don’t highlight the benefits that [doing] an apprenticeship can do.”
She added: “Looking at the generation behind me and seeing how many fewer opportunities they have is just outrageous. It’s the real challenge for this Government.”
A Labour minister has insisted a new government scheme aimed at tackling the youth joblessness crisis will hand hundreds of thousands of young people a 'guaranteed interview' with corporations including McDonalds and Gatwick Airport.
Speaking with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Pensions Minister and Labour MP for Swansea West, Torsten Bell, said the scheme "means that young people in the benefits system receiving universal credit can be referred by advisors" to fill one of the tens of thousands of places.
The spots will be offered "over the course of the next three years to make sure that more young people have the experience of work" the MP said.
"One of the big changes we've seen over the last two decades is that many people get through their teens and actually into their early twenties having never worked. And starting work is just a really important part of the learning process."
Speaking of his own experience, the Labour minister told Nick: "My first part of work experience was washing up in a pub. I learned two things.
"One, you need to wash up very, very fast when you're a 15 year old in a busy pub.
"But secondly, it's, you know, earning your own money is a very good thing to do."
The placements, also expected to include health and social care, have been confirmed just a day after a report warning of the risk of a “lost generation”.
Former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, who was tasked with leading the review into Neets, wrote that lack of work experience is “the single most-cited barrier to work amongst young people”.