Blanchflower on the recession

v was very pleased to welcome Professor David Blanchflower, the former Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee Member and youth labour markets expert, to a special event organized at the RSA, Lost Generation? Recession and the young.

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To a packed auditorium, Professor David Blanchflower outlined the dangers of youth unemployment for society and young people. Noting a particular bulge in the current youth population, Blanchflower outlined the evidence from the 1980’s that shows how a long shadow can be cast over a young person’s life from a spell of unemployment when young.

Panellists, including; Stephen Timms MP, Financial Secretary to the Treasury; David Willetts MP, Shadow Minister for Universities and Skills; Miles Templeman, Director-General of the Institute of Directors and Wes Streeting, President of the National Union of Students, agreed with Willetts that young people are the clear victims in this recession.

With youth unemployment nudging one million people, Blanchflower warned that more needs to be done to support young people through the recession, stressing that, ‘we have to deal with this situation now because the costs of not dealing with it are even more serious.’

v’s Chief Executive Terry Ryall supported this analysis, saying, ‘we know from our work with 100,000s of young people that the recession is hitting them hard’. v made particular reference to its successful full-time programme, vTalent Year, a scheme supporting the most disadvantaged and marginalised young people to undertake a year of service within Children and Young People's Services or Further Education.

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Watch Professor Blanchflower’s keynote address.

Read more of v’s coverage of the recession and its impact on young people around the world.