Youth employment has rlsen considerably in many countries in recent years In Britain, without special measures, over one m three of under-18-year-olds in the labour market would have been unemployed in the early months of 1981 (the low point in the annual cycle of youth unemployment), by 1983, it was estimated, this proportion would have risen to one m two (Manpower Services Commission, 1981) The propomons at the peak of the cycle in the summer months, when schoolleavers come on to the labour market, would have been much higher than this In practice, these figures have been reduced somewhat by the fact that, along with some other counmes, Britain has created government schemes designed to provide a mixture of work experience and, to some extent, education and trainmg The political motives behind these schemes tend to be negative rather than positive It is feared that long-term unemployment may make young people unemployable, eroding their will and their capacity to WOl k It is also feared that it may make them susceptible to extreme polmcal groups, as it did m Europe in the 1930's But most governments are no longer wllhng to adopt the Keynesian approach of reducing unemployment by encouraging a vigorous expansion of demand, they are preoccupied with the battle against inflation and the w~sh to control and reduce levels of public expenditure They therefore seek ways of occupylng young people which will provide them with the dxsclphnes of work and yet will not interfere with macro-economic pohcles
In Britain, since 1978 most of these schemes have been co-ordinated within the Youth Opportunmes Programme (YOP) The program is administered by manpower rather than education authormes, and chiefly consists of work experience m employers' premises and m specially created work schemes, though it sometimes includes a certain amount of off-the-job education and training in colleges It has become big business by 1980/81