Minister for Work Nick Brown has welcomed the latest New Deal for Young People figures which show that 299, 150 young people have moved off benefit and into work – up almost 6,000 since last month.

Mr Brown said: “New Deal is continuing to be a great success throughout the country, helping to reduce long-term youth unemployment by 75% since 1997 to the lowest level since 1974.

“New Deal works because it equips people with skills to work in a modern, flexible labour market and helps them to find and stay in jobs.

“The challenge now is to focus more on the needs of employers in crucial sectors of the economy, helping fill their vacancies and end their skills shortages. We are already working closely with the IT and retail industries through the Ambition projects and we plan to extend this approach to other key sectors.”

Statistics for New Deal for Young People released on the 28 June 2001 show that:

• 299,150 young people have moved off benefit and into work; of these, 232,000 are sustained jobs
  
• 233,600 young people option starts to April 2001:
  
• 96,000 young people had started on the Full Time Education and Training Option;
  
• 45,100 on the Environment Task Force; and
  
• 47,700 on the Voluntary Sector Option.
  
• 44,900 on the Employment Option.