The Youth Training Scheme: regional policy in reverse?

Abstract

This article draws out some of the regional consequences of the operation of the ‘employer-led’ Youth Training Scheme (YTS). The scheme, although nationally uniform by design, is found to produce different effects in different places, due to the nature of its articulation with the labour market. In depressed local labour markets, the predominant function of YTS is identified as the containment of youth unemployment, while in buoyant local labour markets its job substitution function is most prominent. Consequently, regional economic inequalities stand only to be exacerbated by the operation of the scheme.