Young people who “graduate” from the Government’s New Deal could rejoin the dole queue when the economy slows down, said the director of the Employment and Policy Institute yesterday.
The predicted halt in economic growth meant that New Deal participants would find it difficult to find a job, even though they may have become more employable, warned John Philpott at the Institute of Personnel and Development’s Human Resource Week conference. It could also curb the number of employers backing the Government’s drive to reduce unemployment, he said.
But the Government denied claims that employers were losing interest in the project and this week disclosed the names of 10 of the most prominent Scottish companies supporting its Welfare to Work drive. Scottish Secretary Donald Dewar said that 750 firms in Scotland had already signed up and that this figure was expected to rise to 1,500.
