Work experience placements are boosting the job prospects of young people in Yorkshire, it is claimed.
Almost 39,000 young people across the region have started work experience and sector-based work academy pre-employment training placements since 2011, latest government figures show.
Each work experience placement saves the taxpayer about £150 and sector-based work academy about £100 as participants spend less time on benefits and more time in employment, according to research published earlier this year.
Both are funded under the government’s Youth Offer initiative.
Work experience helps people with little or no work experience gain the experience they need to secure a job while sector-based work academies offer pre-employment training, work experience placements and a guaranteed job interview for people receiving some of the Department of Work and Pensions’ main benefits.
Across Kirklees, 2,740 people have started work experience since 2011 – with 18 to 24-year-olds accounting for 2,270 of them. Among parliamentary constituencies, Huddersfield saw 790 work experience starts, including 620 aged 18 to 24 while Colne Valley saw 530 starts, of which 420 were 18 to 24-year-olds.
Employment minister Damian Hinds said: “The Youth Offer benefits everybody, with businesses tapping in to fresh new talent, individuals reaping the reward of a regular wage and concrete evidence for taxpayers that our plan to help young people into work is paying off.”
He added: We’ve made good progress, with the youth unemployment rate in Yorkshire and the Humber falling significantly since 2010.”
The Government has pledged to create 3m apprenticeships by 2020.
