A RADICAL GBP9m employment initiative in some of Scotland's poorest areas will give the longterm unemployed coaching in "soft skills" such as teamworking and self-motivation.
Hundreds of people will take part in the personal development projects in Glasgow, funded by the city council.
The drive against what has been called a culture of worklessness will target areas including Govan, Drumchapel, Castlemilk, Gorbals and Easterhouse. The scheme aims to give participants the necessary organisational, communication and inter-personal skills to get and keep a job.
Steven Purcell, the council's leader, said: "Glasgow is enjoying a real change in its fortunes just now and I'm determined that everyone in the city should share in this success.
"Getting people into work is one of the most important things we can do. Not only does it help individuals and their families, it can also bring other benefits, such as improving health.
"This funding will ensure that hundreds of people of all ages right across Glasgow get the support they need to get back into work. It will make an enormous difference to our continuing efforts to regenerate every area of Glasgow."
Other schemes to combat worklessness have proved successful. Hundreds of people found jobs following a scheme which used raffles, five-a-side football, relaxation classes and fashion shows to build relations in poorer communities.
Parkhead in Glasgow's east end set the benchmark for the rest of the UK with its pilot scheme. There were as many as 2000 adults on benefits in the ward but a project found employment for at least six months for nearly 500 people.
The Working Links scheme involved sending outreach workers into the area. They built up relations with local people, holding raffles for groceries and putting on children's football tournaments to raise credibility.
Estimates of the number of people in Glasgow of working age who are "economically inactive" range from 100,000 to 130,000. Some 56,000 people, or 15per cent of 18 to 65-year-olds, claim incapacity benefit and in the poorest areas almost half of the men are jobless.
Around GBP90m a year is spent in Glasgow to get people into work, with some GBP900m paid out in benefits.
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