Government Funded Gap Years

In a move surely carefully designed to provoke a howl of impotent rage from the right wing, the government is going to pay for unemployed students to go abroad. A new form of dole here; certainly more ambitious than sending people to the Jobs Centre in Gateshead. And in fairness, those who do take part in these schemes are going to have to be committed:

But according to the Times, graduates must raise £1000, buy their own flights and cover the cost of vaccinations to be eligible.

Still, it is going to cost the taxpayer the government half a million pounds. Fuck know where the money is coming from, since it was my understanding that government's purse was already stretched tighter than... well, I was going to put an unpleasant image there, but instead I'll leave it to your imagination. 

Besides, what does this actually achieve, other than spending even more taxpayer government money? Because it is *nice* that these unemployed graduates get to go abroad part funded by the state. But in what way is it connected to... well, reality? Because are these trips going to help these people get future employment? Are they going to find jobs waiting for them when they get back? Or is this a chance for the government to subtly manipulate graduate unemployment figures, and give those unemployed graduates a chance to stick their head in the sand and just pretend it isn't happening to them?

Graduate unemployment is a big problem: a few graduates making like Prince William and pissing off abroad whilst being part funded by the taxpayer government expense isn't a way to deal with that problem.