Global youth unemployment a damning indictment of capitalism

With the shocking statistics of youth unemployment hitting new highs around the world I at its worse in Europe.
EU youth unemployment: 22.7%, Spain 52.1%, Greece 52.1%, Portugal 36.4%, Italy 36.2%, Ireland 28.5%, France 22.7%, UK 21.7%, Germany 7.9%

This for me is one of the most damning features of global capitalism. The way young people especially not exclusively mind you but I’m picking these out as being hit extremely hard since 2008. Youth unemployment has always been an issue but these numbers make bad reading for any pro market thinker. I am not and think this is one of the worst aspects of capitalism it’s not just the waste of young people’s talents it’s the hardship and the demoralisation it leaves young people with.

Young people are statistically more likely to end up unemployed again in later life if they have been unemployed in their younger life.
For capitalism which is a system based on producing things only if there is a way of making a profit out of something not for human need young people being thrown on the scrap heap seem like a price worth paying to the super rich out there.
The long term affects on health, well being, confidence, future prospects of a long term unemployed person can be devastating. I know many people who have left university well qualified and looking for a good job and having to fight for a part time job just to get by. The jobs most graduates take now are not what they trained for and their talents are going to waste quite frankly.

Those graduates who are coming out of university today will be worse off than their parents who came before. This is the first generation who cannot expect a good well paid job and a stable living. Their life will be blighted by short term work, casual part time work. Low pay and little to no pension at the end of it. This is austerity Britain and the world capitalism has given us. Meanwhile the richest 1% has increased its wealth over and over by pushing wages of ordinary workers down to extreme levels in pursuit of even greater profits for themselves.

When the governments tell us there is work out there we should be saying clearly where? There are 6 people worse in many areas across the country chasing every 1 job. I was never very good at maths at school but even I can work out that doesn’t work and will result in mass unemployment.

Although these are the official statistics this masks the true picture of a lot more in part time jobs on low pay poverty pay some might say and those who are not even registered as unemployed but are still. The situation is bad but going to get a hell of a lot worse yet as we’ve only seen an estimated 15% of the planned austerity cuts.

It’s time we fought back. Youth fight for jobs campaigns for decent paid socially useful jobs the reintroduction of EMA so young people can afford to go to college or university and the cancelling of all tuition fees. The money has been shown to be out there with 120 + billion being evaded by big rich corporations every year. With big business also sitting on a estimated 750 billion pounds a 50% initial levee on this and to force big business to start creating jobs if they do not we should nationalise the banks, the biggest business’s out there and run them for need not profit. Providing the jobs we need and the skills we need to with plenty of work needing to be done.

I would start with a mass social housing programme of a million houses being built a year there is currently 5 million people on the council housing waiting list. Why not build for need instead of only building new homes if a profit is realisable. Lets kick the market out as its failed us let’s bring housing, jobs and our NHS back into public ownership and let the workers of this world run society for the many not the few.

Game to go into administration young people hit hardest once again

With the retailer Game UK to go into administration after a succession of poor profits according to them they look to be heading downwards. As a result many of their stores shut yesterday with administrators immediately coming in and telling the staff to go home with no compensation no nothing from what I understand.

Bearing in mind many of Game’s workers are young trainee’s who have found a job there to earn some money to get by. Possibly in between jobs as the job market has been poor for many years now let’s are honest.

But for young people this is a further attack on the youth of today. With over a million young people out of work and not in training of any sort this further addition of 2000 more to that pile of discarded workers is further evidence of a failing capitalist system. Where the profits are not there to be had so workers are the first to suffer being chucked on the scrap heap.

Youth fight for jobs marched from Jarrow to London last year a full 330 miles to demand a future for young people. They don’t want to be a lost generation and I don’t think we should let them be either. Let’s fight for jobs and education decent socially useful jobs, living wage for all trade union rates and pay and free education for young people.

These are some of youth fight for jobs’ basic demands and are entirely possible. Maybe not under this current rotten system of capitalism but with the view to transforming society to one based on people’s needs rather than profits for a select few.

It is news like this that angers me when young people are encouraged to find jobs and do in places like Game and then are told your no longer needed where are they to go ?

It is not like there are lots of jobs out there. Every 1 job has 6 people going for it there simply aren’t the jobs out there for people.

A mass creation of socially useful jobs for people and young people in particular would go some way to getting things moving again. Of course this would only be temporary as the underlying contradictions of capitalism will still exist. So the need to transform society needs to be taken up by a new workers party putting the interests of the 99% before anything else.