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?

It actually really has angered me hearing what is being said about young people on here.
Far from being the lazy,skiving, ambitionless characters being portrayed here, I've seen huge resilience, discipline and determination.
It's been a really tough time for young adults, with covid, the cost of living rises hitting their parents ability to help out, the terrible job market, the housing crisis, wars and genocide, background talk of war and conscription, lack of driving tests if they are able to learn to drive, a collapsing NHS, the rise of the far right, the stifling of protest, the criminality of so many rich and powerful, the climate being systematically destroyed, and on and on.
Don't ask what they're doing for themselves.
Ask how badly they've been let down.

For this age group, yes.

Most still live at home with parents.

Hopefully a higher min wage will help today's young people to do the same.

Would you deny top up benefits to those in work?

Ai is replacing so many jobs. In ten years time we will all be on universal income I suspect as very few will be in the workplace

Maybe it was just my school then, but they did a good job.

Our parish council been running sessions for unemployed local youngsters, looking at training, employment and skills. Most of these kids seem to have had no guidance, no support and have little idea of what is out there.

We're doing well at finding part time jobs and training places, but it takes individual attention to detail and local knowledge.

School leavers signing on will be a by product of their parents child benefit ending. Id expect their parents need them to replace that income to sustain their own expenses.
Its not easy finding a job as a school leaver if you dont know how to find one and how to sell yourself in front of potential bossed. Yp need support into work and one way to do that, is sign on, visit the jobcentre and access support and advice.

It's down to their parents to support them then?

What if they can't?

It is nearly impossible for kids to work under 16these days...I think this is a huge factor. They don't get to learn work ethics and get experience until they leave education then no one wants them as they have zero experience and they are just as costly as anyone else. I think having a Saturday job is a great opportunity and experience and would give many the drive and experience they need

Their problem entirely.

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

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

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.

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?

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

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.

@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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.