Unemployment, government training schemes and the perpetuation of marginality

Training for the unemployed has played an important role in recent labour market policies in the United Kingdom. The Employment Training programme, introduced in 1988, has been of particular significance during the recent recession. This program aimed to improve the skills of those who had been out of work for 6 months or more, to provide them with relevant work placements, and to enhance their employability. Evidence presented here, from in-depth interviews carried out with young white male training program participants in both a buoyant (Cambridge) and a depressed (Sheffield) labour market, suggest that the outcomes of the training were generally very poor. High proportions of those on the programme returned to unemployment, having had poor experiences of training. In the long term, participation in a scheme may be disadvantageous since it increases the fragmentation of an individual's labour market history, and many employers stigmatise those who have been on a scheme. A significant outcome of government training schemes may actually be the accentuation of the marginality of those involved

Demographic economics · Economic growth · Economics · Employability · Geography · Labour economics · Political science · Recession · Retraining · Unemployment · Vocational education · Workfare · Youth unemployment · Employment and Welfare Studies · Labor market dynamics and wage inequality · Law · Psychology · Social Policy and Reform Studies