Wasted generation?

I haven't actually decided what this post will be about today.

I had a few thoughts, but they seem to have blown away before I could grab hold. So, please excuse me if this seems to be a ramble (although that is the subtitle of this blog...).

I've recently been looking for employment as the photography business is pretty quiet at present (I live in a city filled with photography students, which doesn't help) and I'm finding it extremely difficult.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am an experienced administrator. Unfortunately, this is my problem as well as my selling point. Employers don't seem to want to employ someone at my level – the agencies inform me I am well qualified and the perfect candidate. Apparently that makes me too expensive for some and too much of a threat to others. Result? I can't get a job.

Now for the flipside of the coin. I know a nineteen year old who left college last year with a National diploma. His school exams were good and he is a bright, honest person. He has been looking for work for over a year without success. Apart from a short stint in an office as a temp and a holiday job last summer he has been turned down for everything he applies for. The reason given? Not enough experience! Somewhere between us we must have exactly the right amount of experience for these people?

All around the country it is getting harder to find work. I am in my late forties and have decided to go back to university and start a new degree. This will at least keep me from giving up hope, but what about all these young people with no work? The government suggests training programmes and further education. Fine if you're academically minded, but what will you do after the education? There are no jobs now – by the time you return to the job market there will probably be even fewer jobs and more applicants. And you'll probably be told you're over-qualified!

Raising the age of school leavers solves nothing. It will cause overcrowding in schools, resentment by students who don't want to be there and more problems for overstretched teaching staff. It is merely a way of reducing the unemployment figures.

Those on training programmes will be replaced with new trainees as soon as the course ends. It enables companies to enjoy a constant stream of cheap employees; it doesn't offer long term solutions to the unemployed. Some years ago I worked as a Work Placement Officer and I saw this happen constantly.

Is it any wonder the numbers of supporters for any of the less mainstream political parties is increasing? When young people see more and more immigrants being pushed in front of them for housing, jobs, etc they are bound to feel resentful. Resent can easily lead to anger, which leads to violence. They can feel as though they are less valued by their own countrymen than a newcomer is. This caused race riots in the seventies and eighties – this is not something we wish to see again.

I'm not offering solutions to these issues – I don't have the answers – but I do believe we must look at ways to help rescue the people trapped at either end of the job seeking market. We have many social problems, a number of which involve young unemployed people; we need to understand that these will continue as long as they feel unwanted and that their lives are wasted.

Well, it seems I did have something to say after all.

I think I'll end here, but I welcome any comments or views you may have on this post.