Teenagers to be given jobs funded by taxpayers.

and still the guardian comments about this are full of hate.

some people really are morons.

I thought it was illegal to discriminate based on age now? So they're encouraging companies to hire young people who are out of work, but they'll be punished if they pick them over someone older? Doesn't make much sense.

Extract from the OP.

"The scheme, which has hallmarks of the Thatcherite Youth Training Scheme of the 1980s, will be funded by freezing tax credits for up to three years, hitting millions of workers earning up to £28,000."

In other words, tax money from high earners isn't going to support low earners but will instead support the youth.

Not giving money to someone != Taking money off someone

It wont really be discriminating.

It's just an incentive for companies to think about younger workers. Because someone older may have more experience, but that will now be balanced by the credit they'll get from the government if they take on a younger employee. I don;t know if I agree with the scheme to be honest, but something needs to be done.

Finally the Coalition is going to recycle a Thatcher era policy.

Personally think it is the wrong way to deal with the problem. Another treatment of the symptoms rather than anything else.

It's still discrimination, justified or not. The fact is it will mean companies will pick young people over older people who will be just as suitable for the job. It just seems like mixed messages. It wasn't that long ago they introduced the ban on age discrimination so that companies didn't discriminate against older people, now they're actively encouraging them to pick young people over older people.

is this really going to be that effective at stimulating jobs given that currently it is a lack of aggregate demand which is resulting in a lack of demand in the job market - the government is not targeting the causes of youth unemployment - namely weak consumption and a lack of education and training - firms will not employ young workers if they have nothing for them to do, even if they are being heavily subsidised by the government

surely this is just another attempt at another "quick fix" by the coalition government - they are just treating symptoms rather than the problem itself!

Not really, this is no more discrimination than it would be if the government funded someone's degree, and they got picked for a job on the basis of that degree.

The fact is many companies will still pick an experienced person over a newbie, along with the fact that this is only for a fixed term.

You're halfway there, the lack of demand is caused by wages being too low

money = demand and thus if the majority don't have money to spend, they can't spend it so there are no sales

Raise the wages of the lowers to come out of company profits and we shall see a huge boom in the economy

the lack of demand is caused by uncertainty and an accumulation of large amounts of household debt in the UK to a greater extent than wages in my opinion

but it's impossible to get large firms to reduce their profits given that any further rises in corporate taxation rates are likely to further reduce investment and may even lead to the departure of some of the multinationals from the UK - you might be right but it's impossible to implement!

Oh, I know it's impossible to implement but raising corporation tax is no different

This is where pure greed ****s everything up and there's no way to stop it

You're halfway there, the lack of demand is caused by wages being too low

money = demand and thus if the majority don't have money to spend, they can't spend it so there are no sales

Raise the wages of the lowers to come out of company profits and we shall see a huge boom in the economy

Do you want 9% inflation as well?

The trick is... YOU DON'T RAISE PRICES

Of course, greed kicks in and the already rich get excited and raise them anyway, thus inflation will keep rising

mm i know that's what i was saying - raising corporation tax is infeasible

surely the failing in this sense is the fact that those firms do not need to invest/raise wages in order to respectively remain competitive and retain their workers

i.e. they are just doing what any profit maximising firm in a capitalist economy would do ..

Yes... but it doesn't change the fact that there would be demand pull inflation.