Labour has a problem with young people. Whenever the government tries to help us, things become immeasurably worse. As it demonstrated again over the past week.

Speaking at the Trades Union Congress (TUC) in Brighton last Tuesday, first secretary of state Louise Haigh told conference-goers that Labour would make it harder for employers to reject requests from employees to work from home (WFH). The new law would go further than current rules, which compel employers to consider the request in a ‘reasonable manner’. Haigh not only wants employers to ‘properly consider’ applications to WFH – they will also be obliged to hold a face-to-face meeting with the employee and provide a ‘justifiable reason’ if they deny the request.

Appealing to hearts and minds, Haigh claimed that ‘life isn’t always as neat as we’d like it to be or as employers would like it to be. There’s kids to pick up, parents to look after, families who rely on us at short notice.’

In fairness, British workers will welcome Haigh’s announcement. Almost 70 per cent of Britons hold a favourable view of WFH. Around 14 per cent of British workers currently work from home exclusively, and 28 per cent have a hybrid working model. As a nation, we are clearly infatuated with the post-Covid working settlement. According to a King’s College London study from May last year, fewer than half of Britons would happily comply with a nationwide mandate to return to the office for five days a week.

Of course, for the Labour Party, campaigning for the rights of workers is only important insofar as it appeases their union paymasters. Paul Nowak, head of the TUC, described Haigh’s move as ‘a welcome step forward’. Mission accomplished.

So the trade unions are happy and so, ostensibly, are the workers of Britain. But will making it easier to work from home do us any good in the long-run?

We often hear about the crisis of those not in employment, education or training (NEETs), and the impact this has on their lives. According to a study in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, NEETs show greater vulnerability for mental-health issues, including higher rates of substance-abuse problems. Some 35 per cent of NEET participants suffered from depression compared to 18 per cent of non-NEETs, and 14 per cent had generalised anxiety disorder, compared to six per cent of their non-NEET peers.

The obvious answer to growing joblessness, particularly among the young, would be to create more jobs. Yet that’s exactly where the government is getting in the way.

Since 2024, the business world has responded to Labour’s employment-rights legislation by halting recruitment. Keir Starmer’s Employment Rights Act, which mandates day-one sick-pay rights and gives trade-union officials greater access to workplaces, combined with hikes in the minimum wage and national insurance, has made it ludicrously expensive to hire new staff. Between 2024 and 2026, the cost of hiring a new full-time employee on the minimum wage has risen by £3,414. Last week, labour-market data showed a drop in employment of 26,000 in August, while wage growth fell to its lowest rate in six years.

This has been a particular problem for young people, as employers increasingly view them as expensive, hypersensitive liabilities who at any moment will drag them before a judge for not allowing emotional support pets in the office. Taking a chance on an inexperienced young person poses a much bigger risk than before.

I am sure these ‘reforms’ are well-intentioned. Yet they are also entirely misguided. Rather than reverse unemployment, the government has encouraged it. And the incoming home-working law will make matters even worse.

There is another point to be made. Is a career working from home really what our leaders should be encouraging? Put yourself in the shoes of many young people in Britain today. They’ve travelled to a city where they have no pre-existing social circle, moved into a cramped rental with strangers, only to spend all their waking hours at home working in front of a computer. Chats by the water cooler and quarterly trips to the local indoor crazy golf course can be tiresome – but they can also mean the difference between a social life and complete isolation.

If Andy Burnham and his cadre truly care about the future of Britain’s young NEETs, they will get out of the way of businesses and stop attempting to control the jobs market from Whitehall. What young people need is a labour market in which they can meet people and find work. They don’t need cynical politicians weaponising their struggles to curry favour with trade unions.

Joseph Dinnage is a senior press officer at the Prosperity Institute.