Employment Minister To Encourage Employers To Give a 'Hoodie' A Job

In a speech later today the employment minister, Chris Grayling, will say companies should take a chance on "the surly young man in a hoodie".

"It's easy to hire someone from Eastern Europe with five years' experience," he is expected to say, adding that firms should take a risk on less obvious "local recruits".

He will also attack those who "rail with outrage" at the idea of young people doing unpaid work experience.

Jobs "don't just come on a plate", Mr Grayling will add.

He is due to give a speech in London on Wednesday afternoon to the think tank Policy Exchange. It comes as official figures show UK unemployment has registered its first fall since last spring.

In a wide ranging speech Grayling will also say British firms who move their customer service departments overseas are "mad", adding: "We all know how frustrating it can be speaking to a call centre operator overseas who works from a set script but doesn't get what your problem is."

Mr Grayling will argue that the welfare state must be "a ladder up" for the unemployed, "not a place in which they live", and insist, that "even those who are genuinely feckless can change".

During prime minister's questions on Wednesday, David Cameron welcomed the news that unemployment had fallen.

But Labour leader Ed Miliband said: "Only this prime minister could think it was a cause for celebration that over a million young people are still out of work in this country.

"It's no wonder people think he is out of touch."

(H)