US jolted by slowdown in rate of jobs growth

THE rate of jobs growth in the US has slowed sharply, providing fresh evidence that the Stateside economy may be weakening.

President of the teaching union, Graham Dawson blasted the Government for denying youngsters access to the 'education superhighway of opportunity'GETTY

President of the NASUWT, Graham Dawson blasted the Government for denying youngsters opportunities

After job gains above 200,000 for 12 months in a row, latest figures from the US Department of Labor showed just 126,000 jobs were created last month, although the unemployment rate remained at 5.5 per cent.

Although all major US and European stock exchanges were closed yesterday, the figures, which may delay any rise in US interest rates by Federal Reserve, hit US stock futures prices in trading.

The US figures were released at the same time as a warning in the UK that teenagers are being diverted on to a dirt track of "low pay, zero hours and dead-end jobs".

Many youngsters are now denied access to the "education superhighway of opportunity" as a result of major Government reforms, according to Graham Dawson, president of the teaching union the NASUWT.

No country can afford the waste and human cost of casting many of its young people aside with such casual abandon.

Graham Dawson, president of the teaching union the NASUWT

In his speech to delegates on the opening day of the union's annual conference in Cardiff, he claimed that young people's life chances have been narrowed by a focus on core academic subjects at GCSE, the trebling of tuition fees and a rise in unpaid internships.

He told the conference: "How dare any Government, especially one largely privately educated, restrict the life chances of so many of our children by deliberately limiting their educational opportunities?

"How dare they charge £9,000 a year for university tuition? How many of you here would have taken that option?

"Can you afford to support your children to work as an unpaid intern, as many professional occupations demand?

"How many of you have a young person in your circle of family and friends that cannot find employment commensurate with their talents, skills and qualifications? "Or in many parts of the country, any job at all? Instead of the education superhighway of opportunity, they are diverted onto the dirt track of low pay, zero hours and deadend jobs.

"No country can afford the waste and human cost of casting many of its young people aside with such casual abandon.

"As guardians of the profession, we must speak up for all those children in our country with no voice, no hope and no future."

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