Nearly 1m young people out of work

Agree. If you’re employing students, they have the same lectures every week so they should be available for the same work shifts every week. Ridiculous to keep changing them.

Also the number of people technically "employed " on zero hours contracts ....but barely any work for each of them...?

I would have thought it was easier for a shop to organise rotas to have eg 15 members of staff to cover the shifts, either on set days or at least having set numbers of hours....instead of a larger number who might work 0,1, 2 or 3 shifts a week each?
I imagine its because its cheaper - maybe having a lot of staff , they each dont meet the threshold for tax, NI, pension etc

DD had no shifts a few weeks ago, she doesnt have lectures on Fridays so is available to work then. She was messaged at 6am to see if she wanted an 8am shift. She didnt wake up til 8 so she missed it, but had she known beforehand she'd have taken it.

As for how many jobs are available at the moment, how is this being measured? If it’s going by job adverts then a lot of these adverts are ghost job adverts, self-employed “opportunities” that are bordering on scams, even MLMs sometimes advertise on jobs boards.

If we want to know how many real, actual jobs are available, and how many of those adverts will actually result in someone being recruited where the client won’t suddenly have a hiring freeze after five rounds of interviews, the number is going to be a lot lower. There are literally millions of people applying for jobs that don’t even exist.

Teachers will always be in demand
I think its different to a general agency that supplies workers to various different companies.

IMO too many people are addicted to smoking weed, smartphones and video games to be effective employees. We have seen it time and time again where I work. You can't blame employees for preferring to hire older, more mature people.

My son (22) has worked since he was 16, even through Covid, albeit minimum wage. My DD is at uni and had a paid internship last summer and one lined up for this summer, plus is starting a paid internship this April at a tad over minimum. She knew getting a regular student job (bar work etc) would be super competitive with so many students looking too so scoured the internal uni portal for any opportunity, and has found this latest position within her own department so directly related to her degree, so a double win. Term time jobs are more problematic, but all her friends have summer jobs. When I left uni in the 1980s I worked at a department store as a sales assistant- the same type of job I had at 17, until I landed a job related to my degree. It would never have occurred to me to sign on.

Well, your experience is not mine and not my daughter's. Nor my brother's, nor my partner's experience of working with a company that uses agencies.

Maybe some agencies are better than others. Maybe some people are more pro active than others.

And, do you know what, there is always the chance that someone will join and then never hear from the agency again, of course there is. I did supply teaching for a while and I joined agencies who promised the world and delivered nothing. But it didn't matter, because I was also registered with three others and worked with them instead.

But you can try. You can sign up with more than one. You can respond to the texts they send out and the emails. You can look on the websites to see if there is anything you're interested in and express an interest. You can call them and chase it up - show a bit of willingness and gumption. Or you can sit at home finding a problem for.every solution, deciding to not even bother and just moan about it 🤷🏻‍♀️

And it's simply not true to say there is no agency work. I looked on the website for the agency my daughter joined and there are literally hundreds of jobs advertised on there.

Well, your experience is not mine and not my daughter's. Nor my brother's, nor my partner's experience of working with a company that uses agencies.

Maybe some agencies are better than others. Maybe some people are more pro active than others.

And, do you know what, there is always the chance that someone will join and then never hear from the agency again, of course there is. I did supply teaching for a while and I joined agencies who promised the world and delivered nothing. But it didn't matter, because I was also registered with three others and worked with them instead.

But you can try. You can sign up with more than one. You can respond to the texts they send out and the emails. You can look on the websites to see if there is anything you're interested in and express an interest. You can call them and chase it up - show a bit of willingness and gumption. Or you can sit at home finding a problem for.every solution, deciding to not even bother and just moan about it 🤷🏻‍♀️

And it's simply not true to say there is no agency work. I looked on the website for the agency my daughter joined and there are literally hundreds of jobs advertised on there.

And that was quite a long time ago, wasn’t it. You’re giving out of date and out of touch advice.

The vast majority of agencies sign you up and then you never hear from them again. That’s how it’s always been, not a new thing. I find it very frustrating when people say “Have you tried agencies?” when there isn’t any agency work! I’ve only ever found one agency who seemed to like me, who used to get me loads of work but now it’s dwindled to almost nothing. I’ve asked them if there’s a problem and they’ve said no, there just isn’t much work any more.

I’ve never understood people on here who talk about “picking up a bit of temp work” in this really casual way as if it’s that easy. We’re always told stuff like keep in touch with your agency, be dressed early every morning, say yes to anything etc, well I did that every time and it’s never worked for me apart from this one agency, and that only lasted for a while. I don’t know if it’s because I’m not trendy enough or what, but I have never understood people who say “I signed up with Office Angels and was working the next day!” I suspect it’s because it’s only the unusual lucky few who say these things, and 99% of us are sitting there thinking what?

The vast majority of agencies sign you up and then you never hear from them again. That’s how it’s always been, not a new thing. I find it very frustrating when people say “Have you tried agencies?” when there isn’t any agency work! I’ve only ever found one agency who seemed to like me, who used to get me loads of work but now it’s dwindled to almost nothing. I’ve asked them if there’s a problem and they’ve said no, there just isn’t much work any more.

I’ve never understood people on here who talk about “picking up a bit of temp work” in this really casual way as if it’s that easy. We’re always told stuff like keep in touch with your agency, be dressed early every morning, say yes to anything etc, well I did that every time and it’s never worked for me apart from this one agency, and that only lasted for a while. I don’t know if it’s because I’m not trendy enough or what, but I have never understood people who say “I signed up with Office Angels and was working the next day!” I suspect it’s because it’s only the unusual lucky few who say these things, and 99% of us are sitting there thinking what?

A terrible insight and I totally agree with you.

It's not just the minimum wage. We also we need to remember that Starmer recently did a deal with India so UK companies don't have to pay NI if they employ young Indian workers, while the media have been portraying young Brits as lazy snowflakes for over a decade.

It's almost a surprise when any company spends time and money employing a young Brit.

They need to get a grip and find a job. Any job. Most are precious about what they do. All of us have been in the same situation. After uni I had no option but to get work. I wasn’t living at home being bankrolled by parents. I took anything. Yes minimum wage. All of us did. We made it work. It paid off.

It offers work across many sectors.

There are loads of large national agencies eg Reed, Pertemps, Hays, Manpower etc. As well as smaller local ones offering a variety of roles in a wide range of industries - everything from customer service and admin, to care work, manufacturing, warehouse work and professional industries.

What they are looking for mainly is commitment, reliability, work ethic and a reference.

My partner works in manufacturing and they take people on from agencies - a lot of their workers are agency and many have just been willing to work and turn up and have been trained on the job. A lot of them are men with no qualifications and some have little to no work history.

My brother joined an agency after university which led to a permanent graduate role.

If they're at university, they will have already demonstrated the soft, interpersonal and admin skills for a low level job. Eg group assignments shows teamwork, if you've taken notes during these meetings, you have experience of minute taking. If they're school leavers who haven't worked, any extra curricular activities etc will have given them soft skills. Agencies will find a way of spinning your skills in a positive way.

The best thing they can do is to come up with a CV and make contact with a few agencies. The consultant my daughter spoke to was really helpful.

Basically, agencies will take on anyone who applies and come across well! After that, it's down to the individual how successful they are. And agencies will pretty much tell you that.

I agree. I'm an accountant with lots of small business clients, many "one man" tradesmen like electricians, plumbers, joiners, and garage mechanics. Not a single one takes on a "trainee/apprentice" these days. Go back a few decades, when I first started in accountancy in the 80s, and nearly all "tradesmen" clients had a trainee/apprentice. THAT's the difference today. Same with other small businesses like "one man" shops, small cafes, etc where it's usually the owner and spouse and/or children rather than unrelated staff.

Everyone says the same that they would love to have a youngster helping out, helping to grow the business, take on more work, etc., but it's the cost and bureaucracy that they can't absorb, and worries/risk/stresses of all the employment protection legislation, i.e. risk of being sued for unfair dismissal or discrimination etc.

The increase in rate of employers NIC and reduction in NIC threshold is just another nail in the coffin, as is the increase in minimum wage for youngsters. I've seen a constant fall in the number of small business clients taking on young staff over the last 20 years. Today, literally none at all have young/trainee staff and when talking to them, none have any plans to do so.

Lots of them have, over the past couple of decades, been in contact with the local college of FE to discuss apprenticeships, but all have said they got no help at all from the college who just wanted lots of "paperwork" before they'd even have a chat, such as employment policies, risk assessments, copies of insurance policies etc - i.e. putting barriers in place before they'd even talk about it.

I've got a steady stream of elderly tradesmen clients who are retiring, a handful each year, and they despair at having to give up and give away their customer base - usually long standing regular/repeat customers. Having an apprentice to take over would be a brilliant start for the next generation giving them a ready made business, but it all just gets thrown away.

One guy who isn't a client is our alarm maintenance guy/electrician who looks after our home and my office. He's in his 70s, a local guy I've known for decades as we live in the same village. He's the exception. Around five years ago, he took on an apprentice. A lovely lad who was his neighbour. When he first came, he was really shy, quiet and nervous and clearly hadn't a clue. They come a couple of times per year. Each visit, he's been more confident and for the last couple of years has done all the actual work himself with the old guy just watching. Last time they came, he announced he's retiring and the lad was taking over. That's how it should be and how it always used to be. But so sad it's now the exception rather than the norm.

I see people on benefits every day.

Allowing people to claim from leaving school is a disaster.

They start out employable young people, albeit with a few minor issues sometimes. But a few hundred quid to lie in bed all day at mum and dad’s and spent on takeaways and vapes just embeds whatever anxieties they have, while stripping away any work ethic and ability to get up early etc

After a few years you’re left with somebody who is basically unemployable, they haven’t got up early for years, have zero work ethic. The diagnoses then flood in and they start claiming PIP. Very few go on to work after 5+ years of benefits, they do have kids of course though (more benefits).

If they’d never been given the benefits to start with, things would be very different. I’m a big believer in necessity as motivation.

This topic was discussed on radio 5 yesterday. A guest on the show said there were 10,000 grad jobs available....and 900, 000 people graduating!

Of course not everyone is entitled to a graduate job but its a bit shitty to constantly hear young people are entitled/snowflakes/need to get a grip....when multiple posters are sharing how difficult it is for their YP to get a job. My DD wants to work and earn money, she's got a job but its a zero hours one....which means zero hours more often than not! (Yes, she is looking and applying elsewhere)

And its not helpful to relate what any of us did in the 1990s because the whole world including jobs has changed massively since then. Fwiw I got my first saturday job in 1995 because my friends mum worked in a department store and asked if I wanted a job there. Said department store has gone bust and Saturday jobs aren't generally a thing any more. Point is I wasnt applying for 100s of jobs, only to get a job that doesnt even guarantee a 4 hour shift per week!

Even those who've chosen the course/uni WITH a clear career path struggle these days due to the number of graduates being far higher than the number of vacancies.

My DS had a flat mate who took a Financial Maths degree with a view to becoming an accountant or actuary. Clear career path, straight A*s at A Level. Got a First degree in Financial Maths. By all accounts, given the supposed shortage of STEM graduates, he should have had no particular problems getting a job. He had relevant work experience, had had volunteering experience, he'd been in a Uni sports team, he could "tick all the boxes" on the application forms. DS said it took him around 100 applications over 3 years to get a graduate scheme job.

There've been reports recently of medical school graduates unable to get junior doctor's jobs because the NHS wasn't taking on as many as there were graduates coming through medical school. That's a pretty clear "career path" that still doesn't guarantee a job.

People need to realise that today's job market is nothing like it was in the 80s and 90s. Experiences of today's parents/grandparents (who started work in the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s) is absolutely nothing like today's job market.

If they opt for University they should at least have a clear career path in mind. How many just choose a subject they like with no idea what next?

This topic was discussed on radio 5 yesterday. A guest on the show said there were 10,000 grad jobs available....and 900, 000 people graduating!

Of course not everyone is entitled to a graduate job but its a bit shitty to constantly hear young people are entitled/snowflakes/need to get a grip....when multiple posters are sharing how difficult it is for their YP to get a job. My DD wants to work and earn money, she's got a job but its a zero hours one....which means zero hours more often than not! (Yes, she is looking and applying elsewhere)

And its not helpful to relate what any of us did in the 1990s because the whole world including jobs has changed massively since then. Fwiw I got my first saturday job in 1995 because my friends mum worked in a department store and asked if I wanted a job there. Said department store has gone bust and Saturday jobs aren't generally a thing any more. Point is I wasnt applying for 100s of jobs, only to get a job that doesnt even guarantee a 4 hour shift per week!