Young people build the prosperity of tomorrow – they just need to be given a chance

Editorial: The Independent’s Christmas appeal, Skill Up Step Up, in partnership with the Evening Standard, is aimed at helping jobless young people get into work

Devonte now works at The O2 after being helped by Springboard, one of our charity partners (Matt Writtle)

If there was one single factor that has slowed economic progress and blighted social opportunity in Britain for the past century or more, it is poor productivity.

With some interruptions, Britain has enjoyed lower living standards than its nearest neighbours and rivals because it has neglected education and skills. It means that too many young people for too long have had to put up with, at best, work unsuited to their needs, or, at worst, no work at all.

A distressingly large number of pupils still leave school with few, if any, qualifications, and still less preparation for the world of work. Inevitably, too, those that come from the poorest, “left behind” places are the worst affected.

So The Independent, for a change, has looked to a different sort of cause for its Christmas appeal this year. Skill Up Step Up, in partnership with the Evening Standard, is aimed at helping jobless young people get into work through sustainable jobs or apprenticeships. There can be no better way to change a life for good than to donate to this appeal, or, if possible, offer such an opportunity for a young person.

Our appeal is off to an excellent start with a £1m down payment on the future by Barclays, but much more is needed. It is the kind of project that benefits disproportionately from small scale and local participation, and smaller businesses as well as giant companies. The more ideas that are floated and innovations that are trialled the better. There is more than one way to get a job, and more than one way to help someone get a job, and central government hardly has a monopoly on wisdom.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Click here to make a donation and help us give more young people the training they need to get into work

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Levelling up remains an aspiration rather than a reality and pockets of high joblessness exist even in large and otherwise prosperous cities. Too often, in times of economic distress it is a case of “last in, first out”, and the younger workers find themselves jettisoned, even if they are subsisting on minimum wage rates.

You may have seen our recent special reports on youth unemployment, including Paulo, the 23-year-old who has applied for 4,000 jobs and had just seven interviews, all unsuccessful. In London alone, 21 per cent of 16- to 24-year-olds are out of work, almost six times the rate among 25- to 34-year-olds, despite a record number of vacancies across the country.

So please do support the cause. We’re asking readers to make donations so we can train as many young people as possible. We’re appealing to employers large and small to offer jobs or apprenticeships to “work-ready” young people. We are also recruiting unemployed young people to sign up for free employability training from our charity partners.

In an ageing population with a large national debt, it is up to the younger cohorts of workers to build the prosperity of tomorrow and protect the living standards and public services of everyone. To do that, though, they need to be given a chance.

HOW YOU CAN HELP: Click here to make a donation and help us give more young people the training they need to get into work