Letter: Counting youth unemployment
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.From Mr Phillip Oppenheim, MP
Sir: I have never, as Ken Coates claims (Letters, 28 March), denied that unemployment among young people is a problem. Rather, I was questioning his extraordinary claim that the unemployment figures were "polluted" because they contained fewer young people and pointing out that this was significantly due to the growth in higher education.
While I do not deny the problem of unemployment among the young, Mr Coates should in turn acknowledge that our record in this area is rather better than the EU as a whole. According to the internationally standard ILO- based definition, UK youth unemployment is 16.5 per cent, compared with 19.2 per cent in Belgium, 23 per cent in France and 38 per cent in Spain - all countries, incidentally, which have a national minimum wage.
I will have more respect for the views of Mr Coates and the Labour Party on youth unemployment when they have the courage to tell us at what level they will set the minimum wage, rather than glibly talking about the need to place a floor under low pay while stating that they won't make clear what the cost will be until after the election. After all, the TUC itself said only last week: "No campaign on the minimum wage will carry real weight unless it clearly states what impact it would have on unemployment."
Yours faithfully,
PHILLIP OPPENHEIM
Under-Secretary of State
Department of Employment
London, SW1
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments