1.2 million 16-24 year olds currently out of work?

[Hmmmmwhy]

just heard this on the telly, is this correct? Anyone any anecdotal data (your own children- mine are much younger) of why? I find that astounding imagine if these young people never work, terrifying

My 16 year old is in full time education. My 18 year old works nearly full time (0 hours contract so it varies)

@Needspaceforlego yes exactly. 16 year olds weren't getting coaching certificates in 2020. They weren't swimming then either, or going to school at all. Nor were they playing in orchestras etc. Even now numbers are much lower for all these things because the kids who were 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 in 2020 missed crucial joining up points, because there was nothing happening to join, and a lot of the smaller groups and initiatives just folded during covid.

I found it hard to get my first part time job as a teen and that was in the noughties...Since then there's less incentive for employers and teens must stay in education until 18.

So 16-18 year old shouldn't be included in this.

More & more we stop teens from taking on adult responsibilities and becoming independent but then we expect those same teens to be out earning a crust in the same way their parents and grandparents did. Can't have it both ways

I think there are a lot of reasons.

One is that for kids under 16, there are so many liabilities for employers, even for simple jobs that kids used to do a lot, like paper routes. There are many things kids aren't allowed to do any more, like some kinds of kitchen work, and even with other tasks the employer needs to treat them like children.

I also think a lot of parents mistakenly believe their kids will be better off to not work but spend their time on school and extra-curricular. Usually this is a mistake IMO, employers are really hurting for employees with some kind of work ethic and who knows how to behave in an employment environment. A kid with a good employer recommendation is really advantaged.

As far as jobs going to older immigrants - I am not sure what the cause of that might be in the UK, maybe just that those are the people taking those jobs in place of teens. I'm living in Canada now, and here many of these jobs have been almost exclusively immigrants for a while because of government policies. But thankfully the UK does not seem to have been quite so idiotic as the government has been here.

@TempestTost its that older immigrants will take those jobs to earn money. A lot of teenagers and young people will not.

Parents mollycoddle their kids too much, I wanted to get a job when I was a teen so I had money to spend on things. Nowadays so many parents buy kids everything they want.

Unfortunately, just looking at the headline numbers does not tell the whole story.
The liability for under 18s means that it is much tougher to find part time jobs between 16 -18. My DC had a tough time trying to find work experience places. They applied to a lot of places but were turned down. They only managed to find somewhere via contacts we already had. So I can see that it would be extremely tough to break into the job market without contacts.

Both were impacted by lockdown during the uni years and lost important year in industry placements. I was quite worried that they would not be able to find jobs following uni but both got lucky and found grad jobs prior to finishing luni.

It is tough for young adults at the moment. However, I do think that some have a very unrealistic view of the workplace and that they do not need to build experience and will just jump into senior roles and get paid 100k a year. Social media/influencers have a lot to answer for.

Sounds like an issue with your particular school!

No need for the dig, @OzCalling , as many teachers on here will be able to tell you, behaviour and work ethic has changed massively over the past 10-15 years, and especially so since Covid. The attitude of "I only need to pass Maths and English" is pervasive and means that many more students than used to do not put in much effort into school as a whole. Almost blank coursework, sleeping in exams, truancy of lessons and just being plain disruptive and lacking respect for authority because they get backed up by their parents are all on the increase. And yet there is a sense of entitlement; that they should pass without any effort on their part, because otherwise it's the fault of their "shit teacher". Kids internalise the narrative that teachers have to make them pass. It always astonishes me when kids who haven't put any effort into their GCSEs are up in arms when I don't put (unpaid) Easter or May half-term revision sessions on, despite having offered after-school revision weekly all year, on top of all the other guidance offered, including explicit study skills sessions.

Parents accompanying young adults to interviews and phoning employers to complain on their kids' behalf or even phoning in sick for them are frighteningly frequent now and would have been almost unheard of when I was younger.

It's not the whole picture; legislation around youth employment has made it hugely unattractive to employ teens under 18 and just like any jobs these days the initial barriers are high. I used to walk from place to place in my teens and hand in my CV and I had a job within days. My young adult tried to do similar and everywhere got directed to the online application systems and online portals, where an AI bot would sift through applications and many would never be seen by an actual human. So many places want proof of prior experience (to save time on training you up) without offering said experience in the first place. It took months of almost daily applications to find somewhere. Many young adults at the moment don't have the resilience to cope with that; they think they can walk into a job as easily as their parents did.

Full time education doesn’t prevent working though. I worked all the way through medical school, as did everyone who didn’t have a trust fund. I’m always surprised to see parents saying their adult child can’t work because of uni:…medicine was certainly a full course with full time placements including being sent away, I can’t imagine what they’re all studying that it’s impossible.

My eldest just got a job out of 300 applicants for 1 job. He got it purely I think because he bumped into the manager a few times at random and made a joke he was doing a really thorough background check. The manager found him a good sport because as a teenager that interaction aside, he wasn’t anymore qualified for the job than any of the other applicants.

DS is 17 and has a part time job but off sick due to a medical reason (certified by a GP). He loves his job and cannot wait to get back to it.

This won’t help but also the pp on Covid intervening these years is a good one

I really feel for any young person who wants to work and can’t find anything

It can be tough. Hammering lower pay positions via higher costs or making employment more risky for employers. especially for lower age and inexperienced, won’t help at all.

@IVTT - I have a pair who each do this too. Both do cover work because of school commitments but it is a good start.

In our experience you need to be persistent eg Ds worked from 16 in a kitchen but the pub refused to pay two young people which was bad. Then asking around a fair few places for just a pot washing job. He did well in the end and got a waiter position. He is in education still though so probably not part of those figures

Even mid teen ds had to persist with volunteering for DofE and finally got a food bank but that is in high demand and has people asking when he’ll be finished so they can do it

That’s in London I can imagine how tough it is in some regions

This
A lot of courses at uni don't want them having a job as the courses are too hard

I think it's a shame to have to work if you're in full time education. I had to work from the Ave of 17, not want to had to, as my parents gave me no money at all, I only got food at home so no travel or money to cover essentials like clothes. I worked through college and university and can say that having to work at this age negatively impacted study, especially as at times I had to do over 20 hours just to meet rent etc. I was working and still poor, that's normal when you're young. I think if you're not in education then fine, find a job. But working while studying is definitely falsely seen as a positive thing.

Well my youngest got a job that was cancelled after the budget was announced. Kind of last one in first out.

The transport issue is a huge barrier. With shifts sometimes starting before 7am or ending after 10pm, unless you drive it's very difficult as buses are unreliable, expensive and slow. Again this affects the youngsters disproportionately.

There are always jobs. Loads of adverts for entry level positions where I am and no one wants to do them, or they want part time!

For a start, getting a job in retail isn't the fall back it used to be. Go and look in any shop. Marks and Sparks food seems to be run with about 3 staff.

I would argue, she’s not “lucky” as she has plenty of rejections but she put the work in and hand delivered her cv and personalised letter to a number of businesses.

These threads are always full of posters who worked in their teens 30+ years ago and can't fathom that maybe things aren't he same now. It is much harder for young people to find jobs, from casual retail to graduate level.

What makes you think it is harder for young people to find jobs? There is nothing in the statistics that back up your claim. Quite the opposite - industries like hospitality and construction are crying out for people.

well said.