Nearly 1m young people out of work

Interesting article here too.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/feb/20/first-crappy-job-youth-minimum-wage

Exactly this.

My mum always drummed into me that no job is ever beneath anyone. I think some young people have a sense of entitlement that they are owed executive level positions and more, but never have to work their way up from the bottom of what they might deem the crap jobs.

How many are out of work due to illness of the physical or mental kind?

We've also had this nearly exact issue recently! Bought weed openly whilst on the job, was fired (construction industry, zero drug tolerance and routine testing) and then his mum rang up to ask for his job back for him because "everyone who is 18 smokes weed".

My 18 year old DD is currently in college desperately trying to get a part time job. She didn’t start looking until she was 17, she had ASD and wanted to build her confidence before searching. She’s done 6 months of 2 days a week in a charity shop serving customers and a work placement at the LEA. So two really good references. So many shops, pubs and restaurants are closing there just isn’t much around. She’s handed out her CV, applied direct and through Indeed. Got told off by Waterstones staff member for sharing her data. The only thing she’s been offered is some support work for people with learning disabilities which is through word of mouth. She doesn’t feel confident enough as it can be challenging work obviously. I feel she should consider it for the money and the life skills. I worry about her getting a job after college/uni.

There are so many reasons for this:

• lack of good apprenticeship opportunities
• employers who demand years of experience and degrees for entry jobs that pay minimum wage
• the damage done by Brexit to the economy
• AI
• Labour failing to support small businesses
• the fact that employers these days are unwilling to train people and invest in their workforce.

It really is a perfect storm for young people and I think it is silly to suggest that it is their attitude towards work that is the issue.

Also for those who bleat about our over "generous" benefits system, the UK has some of the lowest benefit rates in Europe.

It's really difficult for them to get any sort of job, my 18yo job searched for 8 or 9 months, applied for hundreds of jobs and only had 3 interviews. Finally got a part time position in a shop but it was so demoralising for her to be rejected so many times.

I'm not convinced it's a viable option, other than for young people living at home whose parents are happy for them not to contribute anything towards food etc and subsidise them for other stuff, too.

The UC rate for under-25s works out a few pence over £73 a week, about the same as they would get for just one day's work at NMW for an 18 year-old. If they worked just 2 days pw, they'd double their income.

All the young people I know got p/t jobs as soon as they were old enough, with the exception of one who is ND and has a raft of health issues. One was working 2 evenings a week as a kitchen porter at 15, which I'm not sure is even legal. They all wanted their own money, and driving lessons as soon as they were old enough. I'm in the SE though, and I recognise that there may not be the same employment opportunities in other regions. They mostly worked in retail or hospitality.

If the problem is companies not wanting to take on school leavers, perhaps they should be incentivised to do so.

All I know is that my DS16 and I have been job hunting for him together and have tried everything and everywhere we can think of. 99% he doesn’t even get a response.

You are making a lot of assumptions….. not all parents are willing or even able to support (financially and in other ways) their adult children. If the parents are on Universal Credit, their payments will be reduced once their DC is 18 and no longer in
school. The 18yo will be expected to attend the Job Centre regularly and proove that they are looking for work. It costs money to get to the job centre - if I had to go it would be about £30 by train.

Exactly. A lot of people have very simplistic views of how to sort things out, and would actually make things worse.
Hence the popularity of Reform. They only offer simplistic solutions which are completely impossible to implement.

We’ve just got rid of one 18 year old weed smoking moron who was constantly late, gave around 20% effort in everything he did, requested his wages in advance regularly and frequently took “mental health days” on a Monday after a Sunday session with his mates. He was genuinely shocked and cried when he was fired because he actually thought he was an asset to the team and said he thought he was going to be offered a pay rise instead of being sacked. Around 70% of teenagers we’ve taken on before have been like this. It doesn’t surprise me at all that businesses are reluctant to employ young people at the minute.

Not easily without dropping myself in it!
It's private sector, construction industry STEM. Consultancy.#

Yes we do also get a high percentage of AI applicants/poorly written applications. We have interviewed those who we can see might have potential but not been given CV writing advice - but there just is a real lack of care!

My daughter is 17 and in her second year of A levels with intention to go to uni locally. She needs to go to Uni for the career she wants.

She got 9 and 9* in all her GCSEs, she’s clever and diligent. She wants to drive, and wants to continue to do her hobbies which in turn keep those local business with money. She wants to be able to afford to go to the cinema or out for a coffee with a friend, putting money into those businesses, but she can’t afford to and we are up to our limits with CoL so high.

She just desperately wants to work.

She had a seasonal summer job last year in a shop, so she has a little retail experience. She has applied for over 100 part time jobs since September, some big companies, some local companies, everything from major supermarkets to cafes to independents. She tried all over the winter for a seasonal Christmas job. She’s asked on local Facebook groups, she’s walked round with her CV, registered with agencies. Out of 100 she’s had ONE interview.

and she’s not alone - all her friends are in the same position.

Sadly, so many of them are unemployable. also seen plenty with unreasonable work expectations.

Round here, there are so many unfilled jobs - lots of companies running at reduced levels or having to bus staff in from further afield.

Thankfully, both my DDs have worked from 13, and both are finishing Uni. One has been kept on part-time by her placement while finishing her master's, and has also secured a graduate role from September - applied for 60+ roles, had a lot of interviews and several offers, so has got her first choice. The other one is working around her master's with a full-time role coming in June

We have a similar experience of recruiting young people. Our company is in a "sexy" field and so we get a lot of young people contacting us wanting to come and work for us. So far, so good....except few of them are prepared to start at the bottom and learn and work their way up to the consultant level jobs. They all want to come in as consultants. In our company we only employ people at that level directly who have a post grad degree and at least 5 years experience. Some 18 year old with no work experience and in their first job is never going to be appointed. If they were willing to start at the bottom, as an admin assistant on NLW, and put the work in then we are always willing to pay for professional qualifications, but no. Some of the ones we do actually manage to recruit and who accept starting low, then want flexible working which is fine, but that doesn't mean every Monday and Friday off and a few hours working during the week and not coming in with the most pathetic of excuses. I now prefer to recruit women returning to work after raising kids because they are far more reliable.

The problem with young people today is that they believe they're too good to do a lot of jobs. Especially things that are manual or like cleaning. Even if they've got no qualifications, they feel they are too good for those kinds of jobs. Therefore they will happily sit on benefits bemoaning the lack of decent jobs blah blah

@OkayyThen I am intrigued. Can you give any more info about what kind of job/industry this is?

Our experience at my work (also STEM) is that it’s really hard to get junior people. We get 100s of applications but they are all so obviously scatter gun, ie people who haven’t read the JD at all and/or don’t meet even the basic minimum criteria, and are just applying via AI for every job they see that it wastes hours of our time and we often end up with no one.

We have however just taken on a young girl as an admin assistant paid our local LW. She wears a crop top to the office and slouches in her chair chewing gum and looking thoroughly bored. If she reported to me I would have given her a verbal warning by now, and very specific instructions on appropriate professional behaviour, but sadly she doesn’t.

This is why the New zealand government has recently banned 18 and 19 year olds from claiming benefits (unless they are estranged) because their research shows that once young people go onto benefits, they tend to stay on them. I saw the adverts on social media. The script was quite shocking: ‘it’s your job to support your kids, not the state’s’

You are right. A few hundred a month when you have no bills or mortgage is a lot of pocket money.

That said, the jobs market is dire. I know many young people are struggling to even get supermarket jobs.

Isn’t it you who should be suggesting how we fund it all? After all this is a financial issue, not a moral one.

We should probably just put them all down, in that case. I'm sure there's a humane way of doing it that won't enrage the rest of society too much. Wouldn't want anyone living a life that Playingvideogames deems non-productive and unworthy, after all

Or have you got any constructive suggestions?

You are missing the context. If Covid hadn’t happened they may have managed to complete school. And gone on to be functioning adults.

It’s not about therapy as such. It’s providing support to help their finish their education, and find out what’s wrong.

My dd is AUDHD ( diagnosed after refusing to go back to school in post COVID) ASD was on the NHS. We had to pay for her to see an adolescent psychiatrist as she was also depressed. No CAMHS of course and GP’s won’t prescribe for young adolescents. That Pysch ( who is area lead for ADHD on nhs in our area) thought she might be ADHD.

We had to pay and pay. Prescriptions, fees, eventually she got right. I think we paid for 150 quid worth of therapy. I agree it often does nothing. But other things can work.

And either way, we’ve lost a generation to COVID. It can’t be ignored and needs addressing.

No, I fully support top up benefits for those working full time.

My child is one of them. Applying every day for jobs, working in a charity shop three days a week. Not signing on. 7 months now

Their problem entirely.