I've read two articles in the Globe and Mail this weekend

This one talks about how Britain has history of "yob culture" and that the current situation where just unders 1million people aged 16-24 are neither working nor studying. NEETs is the acronym. Not in Employment, Education, Training. It suggests that Britain (Thatcher) failed to make provision for those who were previously in manufacturing jobs, helping them move into other types of employment. Consequently there are generations in the same family who are not working, and see no need for education.

This article is about Canada's youth, who have been in education and training, but just aren't finding that jobs are out there.

Both sets have inherited the problem from previous generations it's said. The comments on the Canadian article say variously that its the immigrants's faults, that the youth are dumbed down, turn up for interviews in jeans, should join the army, etc etc.

What do you think?

Cant comment on the Canada bit but as for the English I feel it is a reflection on the upbringing by the parents, the playstation generation as I call them, don't want to work, think the world owes them a living, basically have no respect for others which is installed from the parents.
Also the government going soft on people, the schools can't discipline like they used to do, bring back the cane and slipper, never did me any harm. Ban the kids from being allowed mobile phones at school, they are there to learn not text their mates.
I used to be in the Navy and 3 years after I joined the government stamped out nearly all the discipline and as a result the quality of recruit coming through was a disgrace, I wouldn't trust them with a pea shooter let alone a gun!! Just my thoughts and experiences!!

I have a 14 year old lad and I know where he said he would prefer to be as a teen.... one of the very reasons we are thinking of emigrating. I also think to blame everything (both here and Canada) on immigration is just a cop out. There are enough scumbag yobs of our own breeding!!!

When I graduated from uni NZ was in a recession and there weren't many jobs. I remember my boomer recruitment consultant flat out telling me that her generation had so many more advantages and chances to get into good jobs than my own. By the time I graduated, degrees had become a dime a dozen. I don't think this is anything new. My sister who is a lot younger than me has had a very different experience because NZ was booming when she graduated.

I think there's a lot of different things at play here. On one hand, there's a recession so there's just less jobs to go round. On the other, higher and higher levels of education required for what are really basic entry level jobs.

I don't know enough about Britain to comment.

Heard a report on the radio that teens were blaming the fact they get drunk on the streets because they are bored and have nothing to do during school holidays.
How pathetic is that, ever heard of playing sports, getting a summer job, there are plenty about, who is providing them with the booze, I know of parents who give it them to get them out of the house, this is all part of the problem and it is only going to get worse. What about when these kids grow up and have kids?? Kinda scary!!

Very interesting, that photo of the brits says it all. I think youth will always fare worse in a poor work environment as we have now, due to lack of experience etc. I do notice an overinflated sense of entitlement with youth today. And yes the jeans to interviews mentality has blown me away. When I first started the application process here for the police out of about 50 only about 10 of use were appropriately turned out.

I do find that kids stay kids here longer and tend to go onto post secondary eduction here more often than their uk counterparts.

Students who graduate into a recession earn significantly less over their lifetimes than they would have otherwise. So yes, nothing new but it still sucks if it's happening to you.

Some problems affecting the UK specifically are policies that were designed to help alleviate poverty. They have created an underclass of people for which the marginal tax rates you get when earning are so high that it's not worth the effort (i.e. you effectively only earn stupid amounts like 10p in the £1 due to loss of other benefits/tax credits).

i blame the parents, funny how that does not come up.

i cannot believe maggie is still getting blamed for things 20 years later, has no one done the math on this one when she is getting the blame for 15yr olds, good grief.

the main thing i have noticed is the lack of fear of kids over here, whether this is media instigated or not is arguable, but certainly i do not hear of or experience the fear factor with young persons that i came across in england.

And I thought I was the only one. I don't think the younger generation have got used to fact that there lives are mediocre for the most part; although I'm not sure if I think this because it's true or because I'm getting more cantankerous as I get older.

you could also argue that the social breakdown of the family, and lack of incentives to be married and raise children in that stereotypical environment has played its course and that this is more prevalent in some societies across the world, who appear to fare worse.

you are getting older. they are not all bad.

From the article on Britain:

"In fact, for most young people, the past 12 years have shown Britain to be a model for the world. If you have a high-school, university or college degree, or any sort of trade skill, the British economy has worked brilliantly. It just happens to be failing for those who don't have even a high-school education. They're not a larger group than in other countries, but they are faring much worse."

I think that's the knub of it here or there, you have to do well in school. If you do either country will provide a good living. The advantage here is that less students are driven, their parents seek "balance" and "well roundedness" so those who have parents, typically immigrant parents, who will beat them on winning have less competition.

That some students don't try is just a national characteristic, we're lazy people.

my nephew and niece, one graduated the other almost, have excelled where i could only dream of doing at their age. niece in fashion with work in new york and paris, nephew top bod in computer design and programming and now a team leader at 25. certainly a change in opportunity in the UK since i left school in 1986.
one down side, both of them have recently had glasses smashed over or in their faces when leaving nightclubs in the manchester area, nothing serious thankfully, they appear to have been on the periphery of the trouble. something i don't see here.

And what caused that? Not that I agree that people should be incentivised to be married either way

We were once bounced from a bar in Toronto (Scotland Yard) after my brother glassed the guy who went to Queen's. He, the brother, had recently arrived from England and didn't understand why we were being bounced. After all, he'd brought the glass down on the top of the head not shoved it in the face, plainly there was no intent to seriously injure. It took him, as it did me, a while to adjust to the idea of less bar fights.