News

Coming from a family where no-one works can significantly affect your own chances of being unemployed, the Prince’s Trust has found.

Destined for the Dole? reports that for the 1.9 million British children in workless households, watching their parents living on benefits can have a “huge impact” on their own perceptions of work.

Some 70 per cent of young people from workless households have themselves struggled to find work and 18 per cent expect to end up on benefits because those around them have, compared with eight per cent of other respondents.

Large numbers of young people from homes where no one worked also reported increased anxiety about whether they would be able to afford to buy clothes and food which in 13 per cent of cases led to feelings of depression and for 10 per cent meant they struggled at school.

Martina Milburn, Chief Executive of the Prince’s Trust, said too many young people were facing a cycle of worklessness.

She continued: “It is a tragedy to think that so many feel condemned to a life on benefits. Only by giving young people skills, confidence and positive role models can we help them break out of this unemployment trap.”

“If we fail to stop these disadvantaged young people becoming disadvantaged adults, this cycle will continue to blight these families for generations to come,” Ms Milburn added.

Although young people in areas of high worklessness tended to feel more negative about their future than their peers from working families, many did still prioritise a career, with 76 per cent saying finding a good job is their main priority for the future.

Yesterday, Chris Keates, General Secretary of the teaching union NASUWT, called on the coalition government to tackle youth unemployment, saying thousands of young people are at risk of seeing their achievements and talents “squandered and wasted needlessly”.