Private sector Job Guarantee.

Jobs Growth for Wales subsidises young people who have had difficulty finding work into jobs. 80% of the subsidised jobs are with the private sector, and 78% of subsidised employees stayed in employment after their subsidy expired according to Polly Toynbee.

That is a much better record AT LEAST ON THE FACE OF IT than the Work Programme, and the causes of the difference are a puzzle.

The above 78% figure could of course be highly misleading: it could be that the people making up that 78% are simply displacing others: i.e. it could be that the net employment raising effect of JGW is zero (at worst). Nevertheless the difference between JGW and WP needs examining.

The explanation could be that JGW only takes on those below 25 years old, whereas WP includes a significant number of over 25 year olds. Thus JGW could be taking on labour with a better potential than WP. That is, failure to get established in a career when under 25 is understandable: it can take people several attempts at several types of job before finding something that suits them. In contrast, failure to get established by the age of 30 or 40 may indicate a significant degree of unemployability.