James Moore: A McJob? That's just what our Neets need

Outlook: Roll up, Neets (that's Not in Education, Employment or Training). Time to get out of bed, get on your bike and get in line because there's a McJob out there for you. In fact, there are more than 700 of them going to first-time workers and more than 1,250 to young people generally. Actually, the fast-food chain feels the same way about that pejorative term "McJob" as it probably feels about an army of militant vegans. The phrase is shorthand for low-wage, low-status, dead-end service jobs with no training and no prospects.

As such, it is unfair to McDonald's, which pumps a lot of money into training. It has rather distinguished alumni and takes pride in the fact that a good percentage of its board, and most of its senior managers, came up through the ranks. You can see some of them gushing about their stories on its website.

There has been a persistent, and rather nasty, tendency in this country to label young people as lazy, good for nothing, poorly skilled and spoiled. This has been fuelled by high-profile cases such as the unemployed graduate who turned down Poundland (it wasn't actually offering a job, just two weeks unpaid "work experience" but she rather spoiled her case by attempting to sue the Government).

She presumably won't be among the McDonald's applicants, but plenty will. So congratulations in advance to the 700 Neets who get lucky. Given that there are 1 million of you in forced inactivity out there, getting hold of one of those positions might feel like a lottery win as a opposed to a misnamed McJob.