The numbers are stark. Almost 800,000 young Britons aged 16 to 24 are not in employment, education or training. The so-called NEET generation. A waste of potential, a drag on the economy, a ticking time bomb. And what does Westminster offer? A few pilot schemes, some press releases, and a whole lot of nothing.
But there is a way out. And it comes from a country that knows how to handle its business: the Netherlands. While British politicians dither, the Dutch have slashed their youth unemployment rate to just over 6 per cent. Half the UK rate. How? They did something radical: they made employers pay for their failures.
Here’s the trick. In the Netherlands, if you fire a young worker without good cause, you pay a hefty penalty. And I mean hefty. Up to a full year’s salary. This forces companies to think twice before ditching young staff at the first sign of trouble. It also incentivises training. Because if you’ve spent money to train someone, you don’t want to lose that investment.
Britain’s system is a joke. Zero-hour contracts. Low pay. No security. Young people are treated as disposable labour. And then we wonder why they’re stuck in a cycle of temporary gigs and jobcentre queues.
Documents I’ve seen from the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs show a coordinated approach. They have a ‘youth guarantee’ that ensures every under-25 gets a job, training or a placement within four months of becoming unemployed. No ifs, no buts. And it’s backed by real money. Not the token sums thrown at UK programmes.
My sources in the Department for Work and Pensions tell me that ministers have been briefed on the Dutch model. But nothing changes. Because change would mean taking on the business lobby. It would mean telling shareholders that firing young workers should cost them. And that’s a conversation no one in Whitehall has the stomach for.
The Dutch model is not a magic bullet. It requires investment. It requires political will. And it requires a government that actually cares about something other than the next election cycle. But the evidence is clear: it works.
So here’s the question. How many more young people have to be left behind before Westminster wakes up? Or will they just keep kicking the can down the road, while a generation loses hope?
The answer, as always, is in the data. The Netherlands has the proof. Britain has the excuses. And the young are paying the price.
