ABSTRACT
The New Labour government has brought a renewed urgency and an enhanced commitment to tackling the problems of disadvantage and ‘social exclusion’ faced by large numbers of young people (Mizen 2003). Although a wide range of policies and initiatives for young people have been introduced-covering topics such as education and training, sexual health, drug misuse, homelessness and crime-employment is arguably the dominating theme of the government’s social exclusion agenda (Levitas 1998). Economic and social changes over the past two decades have disproportionately affected disadvantaged young people and helped to make the school-to-work transition more protracted, more fractured and more risky (Furlong and Cartmel 1997, Coles 1995, Jones 2002). The New Labour government sees long-term youth unemployment as an important cause of social exclusion and has introduced the New Deal for Young People to tackle the problem.
