Another week of gloomy statistics. Another bad week for the UK's lost generation. The Office for National Statistics (ONS) published the latest figures of unemployment this week, which has reached 2.62 million. Youth unemployment has hit 1.02 million.
So, 21.9% of 16-24 year olds are jobless. This is an increase of 67,000 compared to the three months before June - a record rate since current methods of measuring began in 1992. Yes, this figure includes 286,000 people that are in full-time education looking for part-time work, but this does not detract from the fact that so many young people have been left in an incomprehensible situation.
In the third quarter of this year, the economy only grew 0.5%. And in the words of Chuka Umunna on Newsnight this week, 'over the last 12 months, only one economy has grown slower than this in the G7 - and that was Japan, which suffered an earthquake.' What's more, The Bank of England forecast of growth for 2012 is only 1%, a fraction of what was hoped for.
However, firing facts and figures doesn't solve anything. Quoting abstract numbers doesn't reveal the true impact of such high youth unemployment figures. The Government initiative to help 350,000 young people into work is just another example of this approach: sounds great on paper, but it doesn't mean much to the lost generation. It's just fighting numbers with more numbers. And as ever, such responses are further blighted by the politicking of ministers; Chris Grayling has pointed to the Eurozone debt crisis for this dismal situation we are in. That's just not good enough. We need to stop and just think about the impact on individuals and communities.
Sometimes it seems as though politicians just speak louder and louder, no one is listening to one another, and in the end everyone seems to be shouting into thin air: leaving everyone drowned out.
But who is this 'lost generation'? This generation 'X' or 'Y'? Surely terms like this are just cultivating a defeatist mentality. Has society as a whole just written off my generation?
Even with the London Olympics coming next summer, young people I speak to seem indifferent about this and the prospects, if any, it will bring them. It just so happens, this week also marked 100 days since the August Riots, that left so many of England's cities ransacked and burning. Speaking to young people in Hackney, I was told that come the Olympics everything that happened this summer and the underlying problems that have been bubbling away, will be brushed under the carpet. I was told that despite living only two minutes away from the stadium, they didn't know they could apply for Olympic jobs. An A-level student told me that they feared that by applying for an Olympic job in the summer, they would not be able to apply for 16-19 Bursary Fund, which has replaced the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA). So once again, this is a demonstration of the lack of communication. We're hedging our bets on this one event but in reality it will only paper over the cracks- temporarily.
Anyone that has visited a Job Centre recently cannot help but notice the number of young people, even graduates with good degrees, waiting to sign on. And if you're lucky enough, you could get a job with a minimum wage of £6.08 - a wage that doesn't even cover the cost of a travelcard. This is enough to sap the motivation of anyone.