A joblessness crisis is here. But despite its promises, the government is doing the bare minimum
Build, build, build, promised the prime minister in the summer. But for that, you need builders. Since time immemorial, Latin- and Greek-speaking Etonian prime ministers who can’t follow the science or evidence, clueless about skills, bemoan Britain’s lack of vocational education. At every spending review they talk up the need for skills – but contribute token sums to achieve them. It happened again this week: yes, a bit more money, but not much, as further education colleges remain threadbare.
Meanwhile, here comes a great crescendo of unemployment, surging to 2.6 million people when furloughing ends. People are tumbling out of all manner of jobs, high and low, from industries not likely to rehire soon. They need retraining fast. But that’s not on offer.
