About-Face

Thatcher backs jobs program

She is so closely identified with the program of austerity that her enemies have caustically dubbed it "Thatcherism" --a campaign to revive the economy and curb inflation by following a stern policy of tight money and cutbacks in government spending. Even when the unemployment rate for young Britons rose to 34% and the demand for jobs became one of the causes of the riots in the major cities, she insisted that she would not compromise. But last week, as mobs still rioted in Liverpool on the eve of the royal wedding, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher abruptly turned away from a key phase of Thatcherism. She went before the House of Commons to announce a $1.3 billion program aimed at providing more jobs and educational opportunities for the nation's 900,000 unemployed youths.

The goal of the plan is to put 500,000 young people (ages 16 and 17) either to work or in specialized instruction programs by 1983. The government-financed on-the-job training will be expanded from 440,000 slots to 550,000. Some 50,000 teen-agers will be encouraged to stay in school or to take vocational courses. To open up more jobs for young people, the program will beef up retirement benefits for elderly workers. To encourage firms to sign up teenagers, the government will pay $28 for every employee under 18 who earns $74 a week or less. The proposals were immediately dismissed by opposition Labor Party leaders as trying to "stem a flood tide with a sandbag."

The new program was the result of the most acrimonious Cabinet debate of Thatcher's two-year reign as Prime Minister. Says one minister: "Margaret came under very heavy fire, with raised voices around the table." The attack was led by Tory moderates who argued for a much more sweeping proposal that would guarantee schooling, training or work for every 16-year-old. Cost: $2.3 billion a year. In the end, Deputy Prime Minister and Home Secretary William Whitelaw and Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington, the Cabinet heavyweights, backed the reduced plan, and Thatcher and Chancellor of the Exchequer Sir Geoffrey Howe agreed to go along.

Although there is no immediate threat to Thatcher's tenure, the debate showed that the Cabinet could rebel against her if there is no economic improvement by next spring. Says one minister: "Things will never be quite the same after last Thursday." A growing number of Conservative backbenchers fear that their constituents are fast losing patience with the sacrifices demanded by Thatcherism. Warned one Cabinet minister: "We must recapture the middle ground or suffer a whirlwind of discontent."

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