Job hopes for school leavers worsening

JOB prospects for school leavers this summer will be even worse than last year, casting doubt on Government assertions that the recession is at an end, according to research published yesterday, writes Barrie Clement.

This year, three times as many organisations have frozen recruitment, Industrial Relations Services found in a survey of more than 200 companies employing 750,000 people. While official data yesterday showed a continuing decrease in unemployment, the IRS figures put a question mark over contentions that unemployment has peaked, the researchers say.

Nearly 40 per cent of the organisations said they would not be recruiting school leavers this summer and a further quarter were uncertain. Last year, only 11 per cent said they had frozen recruitment.

More than a third of employers who usually provide places for the state-financed Youth Training scheme will not be doing so in 1993. This will make it even more difficult for ministers to honour the guarantee that all unemployed shool leavers will be offered a place.

The Young Ones: a survey of school leavers' recruitment, Employee Relations Bulletin, issue 42, Industrial Relations Services, Eclipse Group, 18-20 Highbury Place, London N5 1QP.