Another outbreak of First Wife Syndrome - We did tell you so

Or, if we’re to be all modern and non-sexist about this, First Spouse Syndrome. Deeply unattractive as it is, we really did tell you about this:

Young people are biggest victims of UK’s fragile jobs market

No, we did.

Firms too scared to take a chance on youngsters when taxes and minimum wages are higher, expert says

And employment rights from day one aren’t helping either.

Reeves can be held to account for the increasing cost of employment after the hit to employer national insurance and jump in the national living wage that were signalled at the budget last year and implemented in April.

Joe Nellis, an economics professor and adviser to the accountants MHA, said the impact was being felt mainly by young people, both graduates and non-graduates, who were most affected by the lack of vacancies.

How could it be any other way? Those just starting out in life are those for whom such prices and regulations bite the most. They are the people looking for that first job without having any proof that they’ve experience, ability, even an urge to turn up on time and sober. They are the people whose labour is of wholly unknown value. As we’ve pointed out, repeatedly, over the years the place to look for evidence about the minimum wage, about employment rights, is among the young and untried.

No, really, we have. A lot. In other places too.

Make it more expensive to hire people and fewer people will be hired - obviously. But that burden will be upon those already having difficulty getting hired - the young and untrained. We are moving from Britain’s traditional Northern European “deal” on pay and workers’ rights to the Latin European deal. And who looks at this and does that?

Youth unemployment EU countries

Note those numbers are “any job”. If we restrict ourselves to real, proper jobs - not the 6 month contracts that are the usual way around the rules - then Latin Europe’s outcome is hugely worse than this.

We really did tell you so and First Spouse behaviour that is. But come on now, who looks at one fifth, one quarter, of under 25s unemployed and decides “Yep, we’ll have us some of that”?

Well, OK, so apparently our rulers but let’s rephrase. Who rational decides that?

Tim Worstall