Almost 3,500 jobs for young people to be created in North
Jul 30 2009 The Journal
ALMOST 3,500 jobs, apprenticeships and work placements are set to be created in the North East as part of a £40m Government injection to get young people off the dole.
The Backing Young Britain scheme, announced yesterday, is providing cash incentives for businesses, local authorities and charities to create apprenticeships, work placements or jobs.
The Government will pay £6,500 to organisations for each young person they take on for six months.
The scheme is a central part of the effort to divert school and university leavers from signing on, after youth unemployment hit its highest level for 16 years.
Eleven North East councils, including Newcastle, Gateshead, Northumberland and Sunderland, have won money from the scheme’s Future Jobs Fund to create 2,800 jobs for 18 to 21-year-olds. They aim to boost the number to 3,450 in the region when it goes live in October.
The councils are among 117 organisations nationally to be awarded money after pledging to create 47,000 jobs or placements.
Across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham, 1,643 jobs are to be created in the community and voluntary sector, 1,052 in the public sector and 755 in the private sector over the next 18 months.
The first phase will create 1,600 jobs over the first six months from October. Department for Work and Pensions Minister Helen Goodman was at Newcastle’s West Gate Community College yesterday to unveil the initiative in the region.
