I mentioned a few times on the blog that the UK are thinking of a massive internship programme but I have found it difficult to find information on it. An article in the Guardian cites a former cabinet minister as saying "No money has been committed to this internship scheme and the idea is frankly vague." I hope he is wrong as this scheme sounded like it could lead the way in taking action against the biggest issue in the current recession and I was sincerely hoping that it would act as a wake-up call in our part of the world as our response thus far on unemployment has been very weak. The short article is interesting in that it raises themes such as the potentially devastating effect of large scale and eventually long-term unemployment and the inadequacy of the UK response. The former Minister also questions the preparedness of the British job centres. There is no such questioning in Ireland due to discussion being crowded out by a very popular debate about the expenses policy of the main organisation in question. I despair again at the weekend coverage of the recession in the Irish newspapers. A litany of tirades and abuse and almost nothing hitting seriously at the main issue at present - the growing cloud of unemployment and the protracted waste of human potential that will come with it. Nobody has advanced a serious proposal yet as far as I can see whether on blogs, in print or even verbally about how to get 350,000 people back working.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/feb/15/lord-jones-unemployment
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David McW points to an Argentinian solution to similar unemployment problems faced earlier this decade. In an interesting article, which invariably emphasises Ireland's difficulties, he briefly touches on a possible solution along the lines of a state-sponsored ‘‘match-making’’ service. Although the applicability of such a programme is questionable here in Ireland it is certainly welcoming to see suggestions coming to light...
can be found here... http://www.thepost.ie/post/pages/p/story.aspx-qqqt=DAVID+McWilliams-qqqs=commentandanalysis-qqqid=39518-qqqx=1.asp
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