Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

TraineeshipsApprenticeshipsLatest NewsEducation - further and higherEducation - school

Do more to help young find work, prime minister urged

by Ashleigh Webber 31 Aug 2021
by Ashleigh Webber 31 Aug 2021 Shutterstock
Shutterstock

Disadvantaged young people have been ‘overlooked’ in the government’s Plan for Jobs and more needs to be done to help them find work or access education or training, the prime minister has been told.

In a letter to Boris Johnson, the Youth Employment Group says the government should ensure there is an education place, apprenticeship or job offer available to all young people leaving school, college or university in order to avoid a youth unemployment crisis.

It says that one in eight young people are not in full-time work, education or training, and claims most of these are not looking for work due to health challenges, disability or caring responsibilities.

Youth employment

CIPD urges employers to ‘take a chance’ on young people

Pandemic pushes young people towards university despite employers’ preferences

Young people feel they lack skills to secure tech jobs

However, official figures from the Office for National Statistics show that the percentage of all young people who were not in employment, education or training in April to June 2021 was estimated at 9.3%, which is a record low.

The letter says a three-stage approach is needed to “level-up” the economy for young people, including:

  • ensuring that all young people leaving school and further or higher education this summer are offered an education place, apprenticeship or job
  • investing in young people in the spending review this autumn, to prevent long-term youth unemployment – as has often been seen in the years following previous economic downturns
  • taking a coordinated, cross-departmental approach to tackling both short- and long-term youth unemployment.

“We know that young people with multiple disadvantages and lower qualifications are much more likely to become long-term unemployed, threatening the government’s ‘levelling up’ agenda,” the letter says.

“In the coming months, we need to maintain momentum on helping jobseekers and education leavers and do far more for young people from marginalised backgrounds and those furthest from the labour market. With at least half a million young people leaving full-time education this summer, we cannot afford to assume a youth employment recovery, as the situation for young people experiencing disadvantages remains precarious and uncertain.”

The letter was signed by 89 employment experts from across the private and public sectors including the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, the Prince’s Trust, the Institute for Employment Studies and universities and local councils.

Earlier this month the CIPD launched a campaign that encouraged employers to create one million job, internship, work experience or apprenticeship opportunities for young people, after finding 43% of 18- to 30-year-olds felt their job prospects had been harmed by the pandemic.

Many young people have chosen to go to university because of job uncertainty.

Recruitment and resourcing opportunities on Personnel Today


Browse more recruitment and resourcing jobs

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor at OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Business secretary rejects call for HGV driver visas
next post
One in eight suffering ‘unmanageable’ stress

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

Civil Service Fast Stream graduate scheme paused

31 May 2022

Young people’s skills don’t match employer needs, finds...

11 May 2022

Supporting young workers’ wellbeing in a hybrid working...

31 Mar 2022

Graduate turnover at 11-year high, driven by pay

31 Mar 2022

How to improve uptake of apprenticeship schemes

22 Feb 2022

Social mobility: employers vow to improve recruitment processes

17 Feb 2022

Entry-level apprenticeships down 72% since 2014

9 Feb 2022

Pensions: Making more staff eligible for auto-enrolment will...

5 Jan 2022

£2bn Kickstart scheme’s jobs may have been created...

26 Nov 2021

More than 100,000 young people start Kickstart roles

16 Nov 2021
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more
  • Strathclyde Business School expands its Degree Apprenticeship offer in England PROMOTED | The University of Strathclyde is expanding its programmes...Read more
  • The Search for Talent: Six Major Employer Pitfalls PROMOTED | The Great Resignation continues unabated...Read more
  • Navigating the widening “Skills Confidence Gap” in 2022, and beyond PROMOTED | Cornerstone OnDemand conducted a global study...Read more
  • Apprenticeships are the solution to your recruitment problems PROMOTED | Apprenticeships have the pulling power...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
    • OHW Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+