One in six long-term young jobless 'dead within ten years'
Quote:
A 'profoundly shocking' study found that one in six long-term jobless young people were dead within a decade.
In one British city, 15 per cent of 'Neets' - Not in Education, Employment or Training - died mainly from drinking or drugs within ten years of falling out of the system.
The research was highlighted by one of the country's most senior civil servants who said he hoped it was not representative of the country as a whole.
However, it points to the devastating toll the economic crisis threatens to take on a 'lost generation'.
The recession has triggered a surge in the number of 16- to 24-year-olds who are classed as Neet to 935,000 - almost 16 per cent of the age group.
As the number dropping out of the education and training system reaches a 16-year high, Jon Coles, the Government's director general of schools, said there was a huge 'social cost' linked to being outside the education system.
'This was brought home to me very sharply about 18 months ago in one city in the North,' he told a conference in London.
'They had examined what had happened to the long-term Neets of ten years ago. They found one profoundly shocking thing, which I still find profoundly shocking today.
'Those who had been outside the system for a long time, whether because they were permanently excluded or simply because they had dropped out at the end of compulsory schooling and had not got into anything else, 15 per cent of those young people of ten years ago were dead by the time the research was done.'
Mr Coles said he hoped the statistics were not typical, and his aides, who were unable to name the city where the study took place, insisted it was 'one bit of local research which could not be taken as representative of the whole country'.
But Mr Coles, one of the most senior mandarins in the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF), said that being outside the system led some young people into a 'downward spiral' that led to them dying 'very, very young'.
He added: 'For those of us who sometimes console ourselves with the thought that education is not a matter of life and death, actually for the most vulnerable children and young people in our society it really is.' Studies have shown that Neets are more likely to suffer depression and poor physical health.
Research compiled by the thinktank Reform showed that drug use among 16- to 18-year-olds is higher, with 71 per cent admitting to trying illegal drugs compared with 45 per cent of non-Neets.
They were also significantly more likely to be involved in crime.
The untimely deaths of the youngsters in the study are said to result from 'risky behaviours' including drug-taking and binge- drinking. They are also thought to be more vulnerable to suicidal tendencies and murder.
Mr Coles' disclosure in the Times Educational Supplement raises fresh questions over Labour's flagship £4billion New Deal scheme, in which businesses are paid to take on unemployed workers. Up to half are back on benefits within a year.
A DCSF spokeswoman cautioned against extrapolating the study findings, pointing out that life expectancies varied around the country.
She added: 'It is clear that young people who are Neet are at greater risk of poor health and negative outcomes in later life, which is one of the key reasons we see reducing the Neet numbers as such a high priority.'
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I would be very interested in seeing the results for each region of England and Britain.
I know from experience that health can deteriorate through lack of jobs and decline of lifestyle. One friend has already been rushed to hospital for persistent problems with his pancreas.
There's many more of those stories around the country, I'm sure. And as one commenter on the DM page said, the replacement of our young (or NEETS) is fresh faced and willing to work for nothing. All you need is to pay for his travel expenses from Poland or Calais.
