PM plans to help jobless youth

John Key. Photo / Greg Bowker

Employers are in line for Government subsidies to employ young people as the Prime Minister seeks solutions to spiralling unemployment.

John Key will today unveil a package of schemes to get unemployed youth into work, education or training.

The Government will also make progress on its election promise of free education and training for 16 and 17-year-olds who leave school.

Key told the National Party conference in Christchurch yesterday that the Government faced difficult economic times and a "challenge of high and rising youth unemployment".

The under-20 unemployment rate is 14.3 per cent. But one in five young people could be out of work by December, with youth unemployment predicted to rise three times as fast as unemployment overall.

Finance Minister Bill English said it was "striking" that youth were being the hardest hit.

In his speech to the conference, English warned that the recession meant the Government had difficult decisions to make in the delivery of services and the tax system.

Asked if he was contemplating an overhaul of the tax system, English said: "We are not ruling it out."

The Ministry of Social Development is expected to play a big part in the jobs package, and minister Paula Bennett said she was "looking forward" to the announcement.