- Conference
- 2016 National Black Members' Conference
- Date
- 23 September 2015
- Decision
- Carried
This conference welcomes the decision by the Scottish Parliament’s Equal Opportunities Committee to undertake an Inquiry into race, ethnicity and employment.
Conference is particularly concerned about the high rate of Black youth unemployment.
The Black community has always experienced high unemployment during previous recession. However, this recession has led to severe cuts in community led training projects, that previously had an excellent track record in assisting Black young people to gain confidence and employment skills and to find sustainable employment. Black youth are also under-represented in modern apprenticeship programmes, due to lack of information being disseminated to these communities.
It is also twice as difficult for Black undergraduates to secure a job after graduation.
If the situation is not addressed and solutions put in place to tackle the long term unemployment of Black youth, it will have a lifelong effect on both their earnings and employment prospects.
We, therefore, call on the National Black Members Committee to work with the NEC:
1)Lobby the Government, including devolved governments, to prioritise finding a solution to Black youth unemployment by ensuring, amongst other initiatives, the relevant agencies have dedicated resources to address the problem.
2)Campaign with grassroots Black youth organisations to address the low level of Black youth in the modern programme.