Nearly 1m young people out of work

[Starfeesh]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c62gzl2yl24o

AIBU to be concerned that a life on benefits seems to be a viable option, and glad Labour are bringing in compulsory work placements?

Well the young people I know are desperately scratting about for any crumb thrown to them work-wise and not claiming any benefits.
Getting a full time job with a contract seems nigh on impossible.
I see disillusioned young people who have almost given up the hope of leaving home, or learning to drive and getting a car so they can widen their search.
They've been let down. Yet their drive and determination is humbling

Do you think they can live off a minimum wage job?

As a young single person, with a room in a shared house? Yes absolutely, I did it for years.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again, but the government and their predecessors are reaping what they’ve sowed.

Teenagers are becoming disengaged and taught they have no place. Crises in schools and any other organisation the government have a hand in. Taught that the world is a terrible place with no hope. Taught that if they’re different they’re hated which isolates them far more than helps them. Identity politics isolates them even more.

Hopefully some will have the motivation to buck up and make some changes. Apparently Gen Alpha are a feral bunch who may just do that.

Young people have a reputation for moaning and demanding employers make changes in order to fit their "needs". Not all of them are like this of course but enough of them are to make employers wary about hiring them when they can hire an older person who goes to work with the intention of working.

When schools were manageable size, a school careers manager could easily support 60 school leavers and give genuine practical support.

When was that? From what I hear careers advice is awful now, it was awful in the 1990s when I was at secondary school, in the 1980s when my cousin was at secondary school and in the 1960s when my parents were. Perhaps there were a few years in the 1970s when it was half decent?

Over generous benefits?! A single under 25 gets £316.98 Universal Credit per month and an over 25 gets £400.14. That is assuming that you’re not chronically sick or disabled or a carer.

Every young person I know out of work has applied for a ridiculous amount of jobs with no luck. A young person I know on a gap year can't even get a casual bar job or waiter/waitress job. The job market is absolutely dire.

I feel hugely sorry for young people - the social contract is completely broken.

When you live at mum and dad’s it doesn’t really matter, it’s just pocket money.

This.

I am scared for some of them. I know 5 perfectly bright and able students aged 12/13 who stopped going to school during Covid and haven’t restarted. No gcse no a levels no qualifications and claiming benefits. 3 of them have now got their own flats - I don’t know how but they have and they don’t work. I don’t get it.

I have an 18year old. He is still in school right now but has been trying desperately to get a job for a long time now. He applies for everything. Rarely even gets an interview and the ones he gets are AI interviews. He has some work working events as a steward but it is very patchy this month he could only get 8 hours. He wants to work, is a very hard working student, would love to have his own money but it's just not happening no matter how hard he tries. It's incredibly frustrating for him and me too.

Comparing what it was like when I was 18 vs now is like apples and oranges. That's both on the job front and when it comes to the costs involved in moving out. It's really tough out there now.

Has he tried cleaning, care homes, dropped into local pubs and smaller shops with his CV and so on?

A few local boys posted on Facebook offering people lawn mowing, window cleaning, clearing garden waste etc and were inundated with requests. Worth a try?

Because you didn’t have a child or affected.

It affected my dd seriously. When we were getting her EHCP the ed pysch said his caseload was bursting with kids who couldn’t go back to school. We managed to get our dd back on track even though she was later diagnosed ND.

But we could afford to support and help her.

Why not look at the reasons why instead of blaming them?

Because the reasons can’t be changed and society has to carry on regardless. If the human race flopped onto the sofa and refused to get up again every time the going got rough, none of us would be here. We would be extinct.

My lived experience as an employer has been frustrating. We offer an entry level position semi regularly - STEM field, no degree needed, open to age 18+ (if you have a degree also fine and it is likely to help you progress quicker). It pays national living wage (NOT minimum wage) based on a 38hr week but there are some unsociable hours. Benefits are very good (all well above stat minimums) and there is a bonus scheme.

We get so few applicants for the job. And the applicants we do get usually cite that the unsociable hours (i.e. a mix of day and night work, although it's predominantly day work) is the reason they don't want to do it.

I suspect that it's also because pay starts at NLW - However given that this is a position for 18+ with no degree required, in a STEM field, with a quite quick rise in salary as you gain experience - I am continually more and more surprised that we find it so hard to get people willing to work at the career and learn on the job - particularly given the statistic that so many young people are out of work.

It really has made me feel like (some) young people just don't want to work.

I don’t say the reasons had to be changed though.

These young people were locked inside at a point in their lives when they should have been developing and learning socialisation and separating from their parents.

Has their been any help or support for the Covid generation? What do people expect and instead just blame them.

We’ve spent a fortune getting our ddback
on track. It’s been so hard for us and her. She was lucky we could afford it.

Di we just write our young troubled people off with no help? Or do we just kick them off benefits and leave them to starve?

This is another thing that is different from when I was young. He tried handing his CV into shops etc but lots don't want to take them because it is a pain in the arse as regards to gdpr. As data handlers they have responsibilities with regards to document retention and traceability and lots just don't want the hassle. When they want staff they can advertise and get 50 applicants straight away, there is no need for them to hold onto people's data unnecessarily and take on all of the responsibilities that come along with that.

With the best will in the world even those with expensive placements and an array of therapies rarely ‘get better’.

One of the conditions of receiving Universal Credit when you haven’t got a job is usually to spent 35 hours a week looking for a job. The claimant will have to show the Job Centre their CV, job applications made etc

Not having gcse maths and English is stopping young people progressing onto many otherwise suitable courses. This needs to be looked at imo . The curriculum fails so many kids. Its too academic

I have reasons that I can’t go into here that mean they absolutely cannot be spending 35 hours a week job hunting.

Iirc business death rate exceeded business birth rates last couple of years.
Loses of starter jobs in retail in hospitality.
This just had to come

I can agree with this - as per my previous, we certainly don't get many applicants!

I'm confused though, how will it help if young people earn less and also can't get benefits? Where are they meant to live? What are they meant to eat? Surely young people earning more is the key to getting them off benefits.