“I’m not sure I will ever get a job – my future is life on the dole”.
These words, echoed by ten youngsters were said to me in a room in a pub in Birmingham in October 1982. The background music was UB40 singing their number one hit One in Ten to reflect the number of unemployed.
As an enthusiastic councillor full of ambition and hope I had invited these youngsters to share with me their ambitions and hopes for the future and this was their answer.
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I was devastated. I realised how sick our economic life had become. Factories were closing or downsizing, the very foundation of our industrial base was crumbling as new technology replaced humans, as the might of Eastern commercial industries grew and grew, fast seizing our markets and putting out of work not just these 10 youngsters, but thousands like them.
A whole generation was at risk, unprepared, unskilled, bewildered as to where to turn or where to go.
That was over 30 years ago and the answer was a huge challenge and one which was opposed by nearly everyone you spoke to.
We simply had to change the structure of our economic base. First there was need to upskill a new generation to learn to make what the markets of the world would buy and ensure that our manufacturing facilities were fit for purpose.
From that meeting with ten youngsters came an idea which I was proud and honoured to help bring about. The dream was to create for the city of a thousand trades a new trade, one which did not depend on working on a factory line, a trade which needed people and not robots. It was time for a new revolution. It was a dream, it was a huge risk but a team of dedicated elected and professional leaders defied the odds and we delivered.
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That industry, business tourism, now supports more than 100,000 jobs across our region and the International Convention Centre in Birmingham’s city centre alone generates £85 million with more than 500 events every year.
Wind the clock forward 30 years. It’s 2014, Birmingham again has 100,000 youngsters, some of whom, like their parents, face a future without hope and ambition. I met another 10 teenagers in Birmingham and this is what they told me: “There are no jobs, it’s hard to have hope, but there is a future.”
They were different to those 30 years earlier and they also told me about their mates who, accused of stopping in bed to lunch time, had little to get up for. Tramping the streets from one interview to another, repeated rejections, some with no skills, some with too many, what does that do to you?
The leadership of this great city and that means the private sector too, cannot just leave it to government or to chance. Much is being done and yet there is another generation growing into a desperate army who could be scarred for life and they deserve a chance to dream and create a new life. They were full of ambition. There was Sibbohn hoping to be a lawyer, Michaela reaching for the skies to be an air steward, Adrian and Ash, looking to the retail world, and Nikesh, whose aim was to be a plumber.
Not one wanted something for nothing, each had a career path in mind and I was impressed and encouraged by their enthusiasm. Yet this was only part of their story.
Beyond this group are thousands of young people without their hope and ambition. What I learned from them was the continuing story of gaps in the education process, particularly if you are not destined to go to university; the huge problem of feeling discarded at 16 without any qualifications and the threat of walking unprepared into a harsh competitive world without any support – even from a willing family which was not always able.
This group of teenagers even suggested that they should go back to their schools and help to motivate and prepare those who followed them. What a great and noble idea.
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Let’s dream together about what can be done. I’m looking for up to 1,000 people who will act as a mentor for an unemployed youngster. Those who have enjoyed success come forward to act as a hand-holder of a young person wanting to get their foot on the first rung of the ladder. Let’s offer an hour or so to give confidence and lend a generous hand.
Number two task. We need to uncover new industries and trades to match those who do not have university or college skills.
Number three task. Find youngsters who have left school and regret not paying attention to go back and motivate those who follow them.
Number four task. Perhaps the most difficult of all. Can we find an empty shed and create a starter business which will provide a month’s work for unemployed youngsters, maybe a retail operation, maybe something else, but an opportunity to encourage young people to experience and enjoy what it is like to go to work.
So, am I dreaming or can we rise to the challenge? As we start the year can those in our city make a resolution to give time, not as charity, but as an investment in our young people who need a leg up on to the first rung of the work ladder?
* Sir Bernard Zissman is a businessman and former Birmingham city councillor