Jobs boost for Kirklees youths

PAID work experience for 180 young people had been promised, thanks to a new Kirklees Council scheme.

Kirklees Council cabinet has approved the new multi-million pound scheme to help young people find employment.

The Kirklees Jobs Fund will provide paid work for 180 people from the area who are struggling to find work.. The jobs will provide up to 26 weeks’ paid work to help the unemployed gain skills that should assist them to secure permanent employment.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

A second scheme the council is also involved with is Access to Finance Jobs Growth Programme. This is creating a pot of money which will be available to Kirklees business to apply for grants and loans for schemes which will help create new jobs.

Coun Peter McBride, Kirklees cabinet lead member for investment and housing, said: “This year we will focus all our resources on these two strategically linked projects, which together will help create sustainable jobs for young people who are finding it so difficult to break into the job market.

“The recession has hit young people particularly hard. In many cases there simply aren’t enough jobs to go around, and where there are vacancies, many young people lack the experience to convince an employer to appoint them.

“There is not a lot of money to spend on backing these schemes, and we do not believe that this will solve the whole problem of youth unemployment in the area, but we certainly expect it to help significantly and put a lot of young people into employment.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“These two schemes have the potential to boost jobs across Kirklees.”

The Access to Finance Jobs Growth Programme is expected to create up to 120 jobs with 20 employers.

Applications for grants and loans are encouraged from local companies where there is the potential to create new jobs.

For further information businesses should contact [email protected].