NUS President Liam Burns told students at the annual NUS conference in Sheffield yesterday that they face a three-pronged attack on their futures, with the UK economy edging towards a triple dip recession.
Amongst the 1,000 delegates were five Exeter representatives, including outgoing President Nick ‘Welshy’ Davies.
Burns told the congregation that “the real triple dip recession” facing young people is a lack of “opportunities, jobs and prospects.”
Labelling the job market an “abyss” for young people, he said:
“The current youth jobs crisis is not simply a recessionary ‘blip’ but a long-term and deep seated problem. Our labour market is failing to deliver economic prosperity, social justice and wellbeing for the majority.”
Youth unemployment in Devon has risen gradually for the past three months, though there was a marginal decline for the same statistics in Exeter alone.
Nationally, figures are more disheartening, with 672,000 16-24 year olds remaining unemployed and 1.62 million 18-24 year olds “economically inactive.”
Alongside warning against a looming “summer of misery,” which is likely to see youth unemployment pass 1 million nationally, Burns told the conference that the NUS needed to make greater gender equality another priority.
Despite criticising government initiatives such as the trebling of tuition fees and scrapping of EMA, he also stressed the need for realistic campaigns.
The three day conference will see national issues debated and a new NUS committee elected. No Exeter affiliated students are standing.
Fresh leadership will come as a relief to some, many of whom hold the incumbent President responsible for the Demo2012 protest, which was widely deemed shambolic.
As such, delegates will be disappointed that the event has not receive more widespread publicity thus far, in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s death; the news of which sparked controversial cheers from some delegates.
Even with limited media coverage, Burns will nonetheless hope that his words can influence the body’s agenda in the coming months and galvanise the membership into making a significant impact upon government policy.
Harrison Jones, Online News Editor
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