Boot camp scheme for jobless teens is given OECD backing

Job "boot camps" should be set up to tackle youth unemployment, a report urges today.

The study by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development also states that the proportion of jobless 16-to 24-year-olds is higher than when Labour came to power in 1997 despite Gordon Brown's £3.8 billion New Deal scheme.

The report supports Tory plans for "boot camps" to shake-up the New Deal scheme, which has been condemned as a revolving door for young people, many of whom only stay in a job for a short time before going back on benefits. But it backs the Government's move to raise the school leaving age to 18. Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said: "We are proposing job 'boot camps' for 18-to 21-year-olds. Ministers rubbished this so it's interesting to see the OECD backing it."

Despite raising concerns over the New Deal, the study does highlight success in tackling long-term youth unemployment, which has fallen from 23.3 per cent in 1997 to 16 per cent last year.