The number of young people who are not in education, employment or training is at its highest level for more than a decade.
Astonishingly, the most recent figures show that 946,000 young people are in that position – that is 1 in every 8 young people across the country. We can all agree that this situation is completely unsustainable, and it is damaging to our society.
In a debate brought forward by the Conservatives, I spoke about some of the reasons for this and some solutions.
So far Labour’s response has been to just keep increasing benefits, and 110,000 graduates under the age of 30 now claim at least one benefit without being in work.
Why would a young person today take a risk on their ideas or put in hours of effort in a job, when they are seeing more and more of their peers getting by on Government handouts?
I come at this issue with a very simple belief: the best form of welfare is a well-paid job.
That must be our guiding principle as a country. More people in decent, sustainable employment – and off a life of benefits - is better for our economy and our public finances.
To show young people that there can be a better future for them, we must change our economic model to properly reward employment - and change our education system so that young people are prepared for the world of work.
Countless employers in my constituency have told me they that the school leavers they hire often lack important work skills like writing an email, speaking with customers over the phone or understanding basic finance.
It's not that young people today can’t or won’t develop these skills, and nor is this the fault of our brilliant teachers. The curriculum just simply isn’t geared towards preparing kids for working life.
That’s why we should be inviting local business leaders, entrepreneurs and employers into schools more regularly, not only so they can share their knowledge and experience, but to encourage students to think about how they would get their ideas off the ground and what it takes to run a viable business.
You could be learning about marketing, economics, maths, law – all without knowing and not a textbook in sight.
That sort of system would help our young people navigate that crucial period after leaving school and make them more attractive to employers.
That’s my message to the Government: yes, make the obvious changes on tax that businesses are crying out for.
But also show us that you’re really serious about economic growth and tackling youth unemployment, and bring forward fundamental changes to education in this country.
