Regarding Polly Toynbee’s article (Young people want to work: now there may be jobs for them, 17 March), as a young person, I believe that the government must rebuild trust in its support, or young people will continue to be held back. I am now working, but I know what it’s like to leave university and face unemployment: constant rejection, confusion and anxiety about what comes next. It is scary. But what Polly describes isn’t unusual; it’s the reality for many, and repeated rejections knock your confidence.
Support on offer has struggled to keep up with the growing challenges that young people face. The issue runs deeper than “lingering stigma” – it’s embedded in the system. The constant threat of losing your benefits if you fail to meet job search requirements undermines trust and engagement.
If the government is serious about change, it must rebuild that trust. That means removing punitive measures and creating a jobcentre that supports young people to move forward. They need more than CV workshops – they need time, support and relationships with work coaches who understand their ambitions and build their confidence.
Most importantly, young people’s voices must be central to shaping the support designed for them.
Sam Millichamp
Tower Hamlets, London
• Polly Toynbee talks about the youth unemployment crisis without getting to the nub of the problem. The sorts of jobs that my peers and I did as teenagers 30 or 40 years ago as entry to the labour market are not filled by today’s teenagers. Visit cafes, shops, supermarkets and petrol stations today and you’ll find they’re largely staffed by 30-something workers from overseas, not school leavers.
This is due to entirely rational decision-making by employers, driven by government policy. National insurance rises make employees more expensive. Rises in the minimum wage make young people as expensive as older people, yet they don’t have the same skills or experience. A ready supply of older migrants with experience means that employers don’t have to take a risk employing raw recruits. Consequently, today’s youth are not getting the breaks their parents and grandparents did.
This crisis is driven primarily by political decisions of governments of all stripes of the last 30 years. Reversing these decisions to give young people the chances they deserve will take political courage. I hope our politicians have it.
Name and address supplied
• The rise in young people out of work due to ill‑health reflects more than a labour‑market problem (Sharp rise in young Britons saying ill health is reason they are jobless, study finds, 15 March). It marks a deeper erosion of stability. For a generation told that work would provide purpose and direction, both work and the meaning attached to it have become increasingly insecure.
We discuss economic inactivity as if it were a matter of individual resilience, yet many are becoming unwell inside systems that demand constant adaptability while offering little security. When work is precarious, underpaid or psychologically draining, health inevitably suffers and once health falters, the route back narrows.
For years, employment has been treated as the main source of identity and social worth. When that foundation becomes unstable, people are too. Ill‑health is not a personal failing, but a symptom of structural neglect. Secure, humane work is not an optional extra. It is a public health intervention.
Richard Eltringham
Leicester
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