October 16, 2009 at 06:43 AM
The phony employment figures of the past 12 years have obscured the fact that many public sector jobs are dependent for their existence on the creation of wealth somewhere else in the economy. Government's role is to create the conditions for the private sector to be able to create and retain jobs, not to be the employer itself. So the next Government should seek to create that environment.
We need a greater focus on reforming and improving secondary and higher education. Reform must re-skill our teenagers for the knowledge-intensive, high value-added sectors. Their preparation must be more practical than theoretical; hours in the workplace are more valuable to many than in the classroom. Don't spend time too much time learning about how a systems management infrastructure is theoretically run; go and work alongside systems managers. And those teenagers who are not among the arbitrary 50% who seek university access have to be brought off the unemployment list - but by the private sector, not by the state. We will achieve that by incentivising employers to offer apprenticeships, and making it markedly more uncomfortable to those youth unemployed - over 1 millon in Q4, 2009 - to refuse.
Energy security, cutting carbon emissions and developing new technology can all help to achieve these aims. Our energy infrastructure needs urgent replacement to combat an energy shortfall around 2016 - a commitment to renewable energy and its industries will be the catalyst for this. Another driver will be for Government to create the conditions for companies to research and develop low-carbon solutions; here, a carrot and stick are needed to overcome the currently high costs of investing. Massive tax breaks for carbon mitigation measures and innovation, large fines and possibly higher taxes for intransigent polluters and emitters.
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