A NEW campaign to tackle youth unemployment and give young people better opportunities to get into the world of work is being launched in the Bristol area.

The campaign will be launched by the Bristol Partnership, a group that involves the business, public, community and voluntary sectors, as well as education organisations, to make Bristol more successful.

The partnership, along with the Local Enterprise Partnership, wants to address the issue of joblessness among young people, specifically 16-24 year-olds.

Keith Elliott, principal of the City of Bristol College, which is part of the Bristol Partnership, said: "In Bristol 70 per cent of 16-18 year-olds are within the college sector, and very few young people enter the labour market at 16.

"So this pushes the problem of unemployment into the older age group, and most youth unemployment is between 19 and 24."

Almost a third of people claiming job seekers' allowance are aged 18 to 24, and in the first six months of the year youth unemployment rose by 15 per cent in the West of England, double the national average.

The partnership wants to help reduce this in a number of ways:

● Increasing the number of apprenticeships in the Bristol area to at least 2,000, and set up a network of "apprenticeship champions" across the city;

● By giving 50 young people focused work experience and coaching to help them gain employment;

● By supporting specific local communities;

● By getting university graduates into suitable roles, to free up non-graduate jobs for other people.

The partnership aims to work closely with the National Apprenticeship Service, a body set up to help get young people into apprenticeships. Last year 1,900 young people started apprenticeships in the Bristol area, and the ambition is to raise that to at least 2,000. To reach that target the partnership intends to establish a network of "apprenticeship champion" businesses across a host of different sectors to act as ambassadors.

They will tell employers of the benefits of apprenticeships, set up workshops to explain how they work and offer employability classes.

The partnership also wants to take 50 young people who are not in work, education or employment under its wing to give them specific, focused help to get them into jobs.

Each of the 50 will be matched to a specific employer that will sponsor them, not through financial means but by giving them work placements and coaching on what is expected of them when they have a job.

Graduates will also be given help, through recruitment guides for employers to help them attract them to their businesses, through graduate talent campaigns, work clubs and internships.

Mr Elliott said: "We want to get young people thinking about the world of work and the opportunities that might be there for them. Young people and employers need to be convinced that apprenticeships are the right thing to do. We also need to break down boundaries between employers and education, boundaries which have previously been too complex."

Karen King, economic regeneration manager at Bristol City Council, said: "Work experience is a positive experience and is vitally important. This age group is a formative time for young people in terms of their aspirations and perceptions of work, and it's about getting them involved. Long periods of unemployment or training at this stage of their lives can really affect careers and what kind of job they get into later on. Unemployment is difficult whatever age you are, but it can shape your future working life if you're unemployed when young. Young people can bring new ideas and enthusiasm, and reflect an important group of customers."