Nearly 1m young people out of work

I was on and off the dole after leaving school with fuck all qualifications, and kicked out of an abusive home. I did a load of shit jobs for the next few years, for crap pay, or cash in hand, or voluntary work for no pay at all, anything to try to become employable and make up for lack of qualifications.

It was a deprived rural area with few jobs. I worked in fields, factories, care homes, part-time, temporary jobs, sometimes 3 jobs at once, all the antisocial shifts no one wanted, then back on the dole again when contracts ran out or summer tourism jobs ended..

Eventually I went back into education, escaped to university, got a good career, and lived (mostly) happily ever after..

I do ask myself sometimes, could I do again it if I was a teen today?

Maybe, but I'm really not sure. It was hard enough then. I sofa surfed a lot, I stayed with an abusive boyfriend far too long, because I simply had no where else to go.

I definitely don't think I would have attempted university if I had been guaranteed £50K in debt. The debt I did get was bad enough, and we were sold a dream of guaranteed well paid employment at the end of it. High debt and no job or minimum wage would have meant university was too much of a gamble when I had no support network if I failed.

I can't blame today's teens for staying home when everything is so tough. I grew up fast because I had no choice, if I'd had a loving home maybe I would have stayed there too. Young people with no family support like me probably cling to the stability offered by benefits, when cheap housing and well paid jobs are both so hard to get. Can't blame them for that either.

I welcome the change from shoving all kids into academia, regardless of whether they're academic or not, and move towards practical apprenticeships provided by employers. I hope it will help a lot in the longer term with getting more young people into stable employment with less debt.

How bad is his autism? Are you sure he is being rejected because of that, or maybe it is lack of experience? Could he volunteer in his chosen filed?

Are you going to pay the extra taxes for all the middle ranking public sector workers to get a payrise?

If it was increased that much then either the problem shifts to nobody ever wanting to get a promotion because it’s not worth it financially or all other salaries go up and inflation goes through the roof.

Oh, and there would probably be no SMEs either - they’d be priced out. So that’s a lot of possible employment opportunities out of the window.

We live in a tourist area now, and there are so many jobs we can't find the people - I think every business in the village my OH shop is in employs YP - pretty much zero unemployment around here...

The same with my DD, she's 18 at uni, has applied for lots of jobs, had about 5 interviews with nothing offered.
Some employers didn't even get back to her after the interview at all which I think is really shameful especially to a young person starting out.
She has just started working in a bar with a zero hours contract on minimum wage so will see how it goes.
I'm hoping she will get some experience at least so she can find it easier to get something else in the future.

I agree. What twat thought this was a good idea.

In what decade, cause most jobs I've seen advertised over the last 40 years have wanted 5 gcses including Maths & English

DC 16 (at sixth form) put in tens of applications. It’s brutal out there abd extremely demoralizing

In the 90s we all got jobs with ease. It’s very different

My son applied for 100's of entry level jobs and was not even offered an interview. Crfeate jobs not endless "schemes" and "support"

What type of work is he looking for (in which field?) and did he check job chances in this field before going to Uni?

My DH has a degree, works very long hours for his company and he did need a degree for his job. In his friendship group, several are tradesman earning not far off what he earns and they are all home by 5pm, live in nice houses, holidays etc.

We ruined the pride in having something like two degrees (which he should be proud of) by sending far too many people to Uni for ‘the experience’. My friend has a travel and tourism degree - she realises herself it was utterly pointless going to Uni.

I wonder how many people healthy Brits would get off benefits if the National Living Wage was increased to £20-25 per hour let's say. There is an incentive there to live and build yourself up. On the minimum wage, there is zero.

We’re talking mainly about school leavers here, most of whom won’t have rent.

But yes, UC does pay rent although there is a limit in each area and the limit may be too low to cover the rent. So for example in my area the limit is roughly £1000 per month for a 1 bedroom property but rent is typically £1500.

Totally agree with this and see the same outcomes.

Has he been in contact with any of the charities and organisations helping autistic people get into work? If he’s getting interviews then he may just need a bit of help with interview technique / mentoring and that’s the kind of thing most of them are quite good at.

No benefits (unless disabled and unable to work - this isn’t an attack on genuinely disabled people), without carrying out volunteer work for a certain number of hours a week. Gardening, jobs out in the community etc. That shouldn’t apply just to young people, that should apply to all job seekers claiming benefits. Yes there would be a large cost to set the scheme up but it should become the norm over time that nobody who is looking for work (unless financially able to support themselves) is just sat at home doing nothing.

Tradesman are hugely in demand in our area so hopefully more apprenticeships and better career advice will help train young people up. Pushing everyone to Uni 20+ years was the worst decision. I hope Uni goes back to being for the few rather than the majority, for jobs you absolutely can’t do without a degree.

We need more apprenticeships and more incentives for businesses to take on young people.

I think figures likely a lot higher.
My two older kids are doing ok but i worry hugely for my ds who is graduating this year with tens of thousands of student debt, socially awkward and has struggled to even get part time jobs during Uni despite wanting to work. i am also losing my job shortly so there will likely be two of us job searching.
My dd is doing Nursing training and getting herself into a tiz about lack of nursing jobs. the whole situation just seems shitty right now.

Genuine question, why did he do another if he is already struggling to get a job in his field?

There are simply not enough job vacancies for the unemployed. The economy has been in a terrible state for the past five years and is getting steadily worse.

Total estimated vacancies were down by 69,000 (8.6%) in October to December 2025 from the level of a year ago, decreasing in 13 of the 18 industry sectors.
There were 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy in September to November 2025; this is up from 2.4 in the previous quarter (June to August 2025) and up from 1.9 in September to November 2024.

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/jobsandvacanciesintheuk/january2026

When you think about how many shops and fast food have self service tills now that’s a big change in only a short time. Lots of shop chains and pub chains closed.
Contracts are also often zero hour or requirement for 24/7 availability.
I think the issue of not easily being able to find work at 16/17 means they hit 18 and need paying more but can’t compete with older people with experience. My dd got lucky at 16 and got taken on at McDonalds where she worked for 2 years during sixth form but I think that was down to particular store who was happy to manage them as whilst they were cheaper to pay under 18 there were more restrictions meaning lots of employers don’t want hassle.
Good point about older people working longer or opting for paid roles over volunteering due to cost of living.
Despite experience my dd hasn’t been able to get a pt job at uni. She did work last summer. Mine recently applied for a uni role for short term call centre type work - application involved uploading a video and attending an assessment group interview day and giving a presentation, lots of hoops for a months pt work.

My son has 2 degrees and can't get a job. He's applying for jobs in his field and anything that comes up eg tesco, local shops, everything. He'll take anything.

He gets interviews but nothing more. Why? Because he's autistic.

He'd bloody love a job if anyone would give him a damn chance!

It could be that current socialising factors are partly to blame? Back in the 80s even if you were a recipient you’d still have to go out to socialise or do pretty much most things, nowadays young people can do everything from their bedroom.

My workplace works with young men in long term unemployment and the story is pretty much always the same: they live their lives holed up in their bedrooms til their family is fed up. But once they’re “forced” to work, they generally do alright. Not brilliant, but at least something.

I feel sorry for the ones who do want to work and who are putting in hundreds of applications but getting nowhere. I'm dreading ds2 graduating and how he'll cope, as he does want to work, but will get demoralised if he doesn't get anywhere.

My first job after uni (accountancy) paid 8k, which is 17k in today's money. It shows how much of the job market is more than covered by the "minimum" wage.

What would slashing welfare result in for those on benefits? 30 pence per day?

My son (17) has been looking for a job for a year. He is in further education and has tried local businesses, handing out CVS, online job recruitment, big brands and he has only managed 2 interviews out of over 200 job applications. One retailer said they had over 600 applications, this was just for stacking shelves.

He has experience from volunteering and still nothing.

A lot of businesses aren't interested in under 18s and with businesses worrying about financial issues, no local businesses are taken on.

Meanwhile, we have pensioners taking quite a few of these jobs, the one in Asda recently looked half dead, makes me sad that younger people aren't given an opportunity and the older people obviously don't feel financially comfortable enough to enjoy retirement.