5. Statement by the Minister for Economy: Young Person’s Guarantee

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:25 pm on 29 June 2021.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 4:25, 29 June 2021

Yes. On your first point, about making sure that we do have a proper view of the quality of jobs and the wages that are being paid and what it means for people going into the world of work, that's part of the point I was trying to make in response to Luke Fletcher as well, about the fact that we do take an interest in the quality of what we provide. This can't simply be about funnelling people into poor-quality jobs that don't have a longer term future, because actually that isn't going to provide people with the experience of the world of work we want, and it won't help us to build the fairer, greener, more prosperous economy that all of us want to see, and that includes in a range of Valleys communities.

I was very pleased to visit you in Cynon Valley and see some of the work that is being done to bring people back into the world of education and training with people who aren't succeeding in mainstream education and actually what that does in preparing them to go into the world of work successfully. That is both about creating jobs within local communities, as well as providing access to other employment centres, and I also think that, of course, improving transport around the country will mean that there are opportunities for businesses to grow with a different cost base outside of some of our cities as well. And that's part of the reason that I'm interested in business start-ups, because we do know that we don't have the same level of business start-ups in Wales, or indeed not just the growth of those businesses but how many of those businesses survive through their first year. So, it is a key challenge for us to see more businesses grow to survive, to be successful, and then the growth of those businesses to become medium-sized employers, and if they become large employers, how many of those will still be in Welsh ownership at the end, to think about what the future economy will look like. This is a big opportunity to help change the way the world of work currently works, and not to simply be on the receiving end of a changing world around us.