Like thousands of teenagers, my first foray into the world of work was a Saturday paper round. I was only a stand-in, but earning my own money was a great feeling and I managed to get a regular job at Bejam the frozen food store in Juniper Green, working the tills, stocking the displays and helping customers.
So I find myself in agreement with the Labour party’s so-called employment “tsar” Alan Milburn who believes that the decline of Saturday jobs means young people are less prepared for work than before, and contributing to quite shocking figures from the Office of National Statistics that less than one in five 16 and 17 year-olds are working, compared to nearly half 25 years ago.
At a time when there is a labour shortage, it’s disgraceful that there are 946,000 people between 16 and 24 who are not in education, employment or training, the infamous NEET generation, many of whom may well get to retirement age having never held down a job.
Not all of course, and the demand for work experience remains high. And at the Corner Café on Lanark Road West, for example, is staffed with eager young women of school age, picking up valuable life-skills and good habits.
Saturday work didn’t just teach me it was good to have my own money, but about self-empowerment and responsibility, and perhaps too many young people are living in workless homes where their elders seem to get by without ever having to lift a finger.
