It's even worse being an unemployed non-graduate
My daughter is half way through her A-level exams. If she gets the grades she will be off to university.
And after she's finished she will, in theory, be able to walk into a "graduate" job. Two things strike me about this. First, this is not a good time to be a graduate looking for a job.
But second, it is an even worse time to be a non-graduate looking for one.
London has been a great motor of job creation and when it gets going again they will return.
But we should never underestimate the grief and dislocation felt when the work you do disappears and you need to move into something else.
The reason it's worth studying to a higher level isn't usually to train you for a particular job.
It is to tool you up with the skills and confidence for a lifetime in which you might have several different jobs.
Among my constituents those who lack the confidence or the skills to make that jump feel the greatest long-term difficulty.
For example, many of those who left school 20 or 30 years ago were presented with a London full of factory jobs, over three quarters of which have now gone.
When the alternative is a low wage and possible insecurity in a low status "service economy" job, you can understand the resentment.
- John Biggs is London Assembly Member for City and East
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