One of the worst features of the recession has been its effect on young people.
So far, at any rate, the growth of unemployment amongst people in mid-career has been rather lower than one might have feared in the deepest and longest economic downturn since the 1930s. Many firms and many employees have agreed to reduce hours or to cap wages in order to keep the firms open and the employees employed.
But, for young people, it has been a different story.
A sharply growing number of those leaving school, college or university haven’t been able to find work – and there is little prospect of this getting better in the near future, because many firms just don’t have new jobs to offer; they are struggling too hard to keep afloat and keep their existing employees in place.
At times like these, it is right for government to do everything it can to find jobs, training, apprenticeships – any useful and productive form of activity – for the young people concerned, so that we don’t wake up some years later and find that we have a lost generation who never made their way into the world of work.
But, however hard governments try to solve this problem, and however successful the attempts over the next couple of years prove to be, times will still be tough for many young people – and they will need all the help and support they can get.
This isn’t just an inner city problem. Right here in West Dorset, there are plenty of young people who are finding life pretty difficult just at the moment, and help is needed.
Luckily, there are some wonderful institutions in West Dorset that specialise in providing exactly this sort of help. One of them is the RendezVous. .
I have been involved for many years with this remarkable little voluntary body, located in a little set of rooms under Cheap Street Church, Sherborne. Like many a small charity, the RendezVous has had its ups and downs over the years; but it has soldiered on and has gradually grown both in size and in stature.
There is no rocket science involved – just generosity of spirit and a pretty unconditional offer of help for any young person who has a problem of almost any kind, from things that may take minutes to sort out, right up to life-changing issues that require many patient hours to address or resolve.
The operation has been run on a shoestring throughout its history, and I am absolutely sure that it costs a fraction of what it would cost to replicate its work in some more bureaucratic and official organisation. But, despite its frugality, its finances have always been, and remain, narrowly balanced.
There is now a highly supportive and growing group of “friends”. But there is still a need for more help from both and private and public sources in the Sherborne area — and I hope that any reader of this column who is able to help will make a beeline either for the front door or for the website(www.therendezvous.org.uk).