Swinton unemployment
Swinton Square by Peter McDermott. Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved] © Copyright Peter McDermott and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.

Salford council are setting up stalls to help young people and unemployed adults get back into work.

The first of these unemployment stalls has been set up in Swinton.

NEETs (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) are a group that the council is seeking to help. According to the council, this has become a bigger problem over time for people in Salford.

Phillip Cuzack is the executive support member for skills, work and business in the council.

He said: “Salford has a problem with people not in education, employment or training. We are trying to target these people and get them out of the spiral of unemployment and deprivation.

“We want to get into the community as much as we can.”

He said their main aim at the moment is to help the community of Little Hulton, which has the highest rate of NEETs compared to the rest of the borough.

The Office for National Statistics recently reported that the unemployment rate now for people aged 16 and over is 4.5%. This means the rate has still not recovered from the COVID-19 pandemic which in 2019 was 3.8%.

To tackle this, Salford council are introducing ‘Pick up a job as you shop’ stalls to help people with their unemployment, initially around Swinton.

The stall was open last Wednesday in Swinton Precinct where it had received many visitors, which opens a positive future for the stalls.

David Timperly is the commissioning manager at Salford City Council who was handing out information at the stall said: “over the past 18 months we have seen that residents need a bit of support to get back into work due to the pandemic.”

He said they were promoting college courses, training programmes and back into work schemes for both young people and unemployed adults.

They were also promoting the national Kick Start scheme which is available to 16- to 24-year-olds who are claiming universal credit.

The scheme gives 6 month paid placements at a local business.

The council hope to spread the stalls and job fairs to other town across Salford, including Salford precinct and Walkden.

If you are currently unemployed or soon to be a school leaver, check the council’s website for more information.

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