Such schemes pioneered the way for governments to massage unemployment statistics. Retraining schemes provided employers with cheap labour. The government gave a fixed amount of money to employers for each trainee they took on. Many bosses exploited loopholes in the schemes by releasing those they had 'trained' and taking on new 'trainees' as soon as a training period was finished, with no intention to employ any of these workers under standard working conditions. The schemes are sold to the public by advertising and hype on a grand scale with two major claims.
Governments claim the schemes create job opportunities, yet they create few real jobs.
This lack of investment in jobs is bound to fail the objectives governments set. Trade unionists criticised early claims of job creation as cynical attempts to fool the public, and history has proven them correct. Employers love the idea of workers competing rather than co-operating with each other, so they use this kind of antagonistic language. What they meant by 'enhanced competitiveness' was improved skills to make workers more attractive to employers. In any case many 'trainees' end up doing six months of very basic work, learning practically nothing to equip themselves for a career.