Autumn Statement 2013: UK Unemployed Youth Must 'Work for the Dole'

The Chancellor George Osborne has said young benefit recipients in the UK must "work for the dole" and will have to enlist in training programmes or risk losing their benefits.

Osborne's announcement comes during the Autumn Statement 2013.

The move will mean 18-21 year olds will have to register on training programmes or risk losing their benefits when they sign on for Jobseeker's Allowance.

"A culture of worklessness is entrenched when young people can go from school to the dole. We're ending that option," Osborne stressed.

Employment Expectations

The Chancellor also said the Office for Budget Responsibility expects the total number of jobs to rise by 400,000 this year.

In addition, Osborne told the House of Commons that the OBR, which provides independent economic forecasts, anticipates unemployment to fall to 7% in 2015 and 5.6% by 2018.

The current unemployment rate stands at 7.6%, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The figures follow the announcement from Mark Carney that The Bank of England's 7% unemployment rate marker is a "threshold", and not a "trigger" to change interest rate policy.

Back in August, the Bank of England Governor promised to keep interest rates at historic lows of 0.5% until the UK unemployment rate hit 7%.

But Carney explained to a group of MPs that the 7% rate is a "threshold" and the timing of when it will be achieved is "subject to uncertainty".

"We do our best to give our estimates of that uncertainty: two fifths probability by the end of 2014, three fifths probability by the end of 2015 is what we have there," Carney told the Treasury Committee.

He added: "One month's unemployment figures does not have a material change on those likelihoods."