Cameron and Milliband are busy advertising the ways in which their own brand of politics will help young people into work. The Labour model looks more comprehensive. The Tory idea of community work is something of a cop out and unlikely to inspire young people to make better use of their educational opportunities.
At the heart of these difficulties is the shape of the economy as it is modelled in 2015. Because of the post socialist shrinking of the country’s manufacturing and industrial base there are now very few areas of the country where neighbourhood jobs are worthwhile and pay good money. The days when every community had a basic employer in the form of a works or factory have long gone. Yet to solve the UK’s problems of youth unemployment, debt overhang, budget deficit, housing costs et al, will require those days to be brought back in some form and with a modern platform. Unfortunately there is not a single political leader or indeed anyone presently with a plan to do that. They do not even mention it. Community work or apprenticeships paid for by bankers bonus’s hardly do more than scratch at the margins of the challenge.
On a lighter note if I were a banker I would vote Labour. Their tax on bonuses seems to be earmarked to pay for almost the entire election manifesto of Ed Milliband’s party. So clearly the bonus culture will be safe with Labour.