Plan B Forum

Prince Charles: young jobless should start their own businesses

Prince Charles has spoken out about high youth unemployment, suggesting the best way out was self-employment.

Prince Charles said businesses should do more to help young people out of unemployment.

Launching the latest campaign of his youth charity, The Prince's Trust, he said businesses should also do more to help reduce the number of young people out of work.

Small firms are the "bedrock" of any economy, he said, and setting up a company was a way to avoid unemployment at a time of job cuts.


More than a million people aged 16 to 24 do not have a job, though the national figure has fallen to its lowest level for almost a year.

Writing in The Times, Prince Charles said: "By equipping unemployed young people with the skills, confidence and motivation to move into jobs or self-employment, we can all share in the rewards of economic growth.”

He said self-employment was "an increasingly important route out of joblessness."

A YouGov poll for the charity found, two thirds of young people believe it is harder than ever to find a job. One in five said they were not looking forward to the future.

This week, the TUC warned young people faced the toughest outlook since 1994. .......[crybabies, the toughest economy round here is 60+ years]

The union said one in five people between 16 and 24 years old were out of work and worried about the impact of unemployment on their future.

Martina Milburn, the chief executive of The Prince’s Trust, said: “It remains a difficult time for the young unemployed and the longer they are out of work the more likely they are to sink into a spiral of disappointment and depression.

“Setting up in business can be an escape route out of the dole queue for these young people — and a route to success.”