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?

I see this a lot on FB. In local groups, someone posts about a job vacancy... and you click on the link and it says the post is no longer available. This is within minutes of it being posted too. Then it says to send in your details anyway, but for what?

Yes, this sounds familiar...last year DS applied for several warehouse jobs. Candidates were asked to purchase their own high vis jacket and attend an interview on X date. Interview time and location to be confirmed once they texted the number in the advert....texts then never went through! It was probably a scam. But when you're desperate for something, anything can seem reasonable.

I have moments of immense frustration with DS's situation as he generally only gets a couple of shifts a week but reading this thread has made me just so grateful he's got anything at all. God knows when and if he'll ever get a 'proper' job.

It is madness.
You used to see an ad, apply for a form to fill in and send it back, or fill in a form on their website. Send it back, maybe with a covering letter. They get in touch with a date for an interview, and you do it and hopefully get the job.

Now it is see an ad, apply at 10pm and have it rejected at 10:05pm because of AI. No actual person sees it.
Or you apply, and get sent links to do silly tests that are nothing to do with the actual job. Not one interview, but 3, including a group one for a shopping picker job (saw that on here).

DD messaged yesterday to say she's got no shifts in the next fortnight. Now shes got 1 x 4 hr shift...i (and im sure she) would rather she had set hours and know she was getting paid £x per month, but it took a lot of applications before getting this job, and she gets on with her colleagues and seems to enjoy it when she does go.

It's interesting about how much the job market has changed. I've been a carer for a disabled DC for over a decade and before that was self employed (cleaner and independent home care service), I'm still self employed but home based now so I can be on call for my DC at all times. So it's a long time since I've had to engage with this sort of thing!

My older DC who is early 20s has always had a job since leaving home, but never with a big company. She's always worked for independent places or very small chains so had none of this AI or task related bollocks to contend with on application! Her first job at uni trained her up as a barista and she has never struggled to find work since - properly trained baristas seem to be in fairly high demand in cities. I guess AI can't do everything. But obviously it's not exactly a career with much progression, so who knows what her future holds.

The UK's unemployment rate is higher than Italy's! That's a damning indictment of Rachel Reeves' management of the economy.

It’s probably more of a reflection on the extent to which AI is affecting the job market, both in the recruitment process and in taking over entry level jobs. Self checkouts have killed loads of retail jobs too.

I'm sure that's affecting the stats.

AI is not replacing jobs en masse as yet, not entry level unskilled ones yet, it will start very soon. Started jobs we're talking about are those mainly affected by NMW and NI changes

My DC have experienced similar. Studying for a degree and struggling to find part time work while studying. It’s not easy out there now. As a pp said if they have to pay the same wage they will take an experienced person over a school leaver.

The article does suggest that much of the improvement is down to Meloni's lightening the burden of red tape and regulation on businesses, especially smaller ones.

Even if it was partly down to AI, surely a responsible Government would have the acumen not to compound the issue with NI and NWM increases . Surely they would devise incentives for Employers by way of mitigation.

Yes to both posts

Exactly. But they're obsessed and blinkered with their own political rhetoric that they can't see any alternatives other than trotting out the old "business is bad and business owners need to be punished" mantra which appeals to the dinosaur unions.

Have they thought about a working holiday visa to eg Australia, NZ or Canada?
Im in NZ and there are quite a few openings in eg hospitality, vineculture, infrastructure (eg working on ferries coaches etc).
Keeps them busy. New experiences and a job.

I can accept that business needs to operate safely and look out for employees' well being. In my view the problem arrives when a politician thinks that the rule that protects 10,000 staff at Tesco needs applying with equal rigour to Maggie's Cafe. Maggie does not have the time or the headspace to fill out 10 forms in between frying bacon and making coffee. So Maggie quits, and there's nothing left that might have given her niece an opening.

Tiny sample size, but I have two nieces who have been sneered at by their friends for the jobs that they have (one in a chippy weekends and evenings, the other flipping burgers in a pub chain) both otherwise studying at school/uni. They say their pals want jobs but want jobs that aren’t “beneath” them so apply to popular roles and never get work. Not the case with everyone and shit when you’ve got a path that you want to pursue, but if we’re talking actually young when saying young people, that’s just how work works.

I did all kinds of shit jobs when I was at school, potwashing, glass collecting in pubs, chicken chaser on a farm, working in a sandwich factory. If todays kids think some jobs are "beneath them" they have some serious growing up to do.

How long ago was that? Because times are very different now. There are barely any jobs were there is just one thing to do like glass collecting.

When jobs are hard to come by, that attitude just removes them from any selection process. They need to be open to whatever is available.

It really isn't the time to be picky and they are definitely not helping themselves.

It's not an attitude though, it's a statement of fact. As ever, no one thing is true. Yes I am sure there are some people who wint do x job but it's also true that there are lots of us posting with teens who absolutely would do those jobs and cant get them.

For the very vast majority of jobs DD has applied for she either gets an automated rejection email...or hears nothing. Shes only had a handful of interviews from 100+ jobs she's applied for....so no chance to show any sort of attitude ' good or bad.

I wonder if anyone counts the young people, from 16, still in education who are also earning?

DGD started by volunteering in a charity shop, then got a couple of shifts in a cafe, and more recently in a pub/restaurant. She’s at uni now,and her customer service experience has got her some work there, and the pub will give her some shifts in the holidays. She earned quite a bit over the Christmas holidays.

DGS, A levels coming up, has part time work too. Only a few hours a week, but the discipline of turning up regularly, and learning to work with a team, is so valuable IMO. These are young people with working parents who easily support them financially, but want them to develop independence. Most of their friends seem to be of the same mindset.

There are many 'undesirable' jobs available. Why, because people don't want them.

Rather than say there are no jobs for the young, we should say there are no suitable jobs that I have trained for, or vaguely ok jobs available.

We need to reinforce this message to the young when they are 17 so they know studying is no longer a guarantee of a job you expect (especially if you don't have a clear career path strategy). Sometimes they end up in the same group of job seekers as the 17 year old who has no additional training.

Even glass collecting jobs get taken quickly by someone. It's not as if there's an infinite supply of such jobs. The fact is that there are far more unemployed than there are jobs. Even the most menial jobs get snapped up by someone almost immediately. Yes, there may be some areas where organisations struggle to fill vacancies, but in most areas it;s the opposite.