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?

Make sure you have a lot of relevant experience for those apprenticeships. They won't be interested if you don't. They also told my child that they didn't even have any volunteering opportunities for him when he asked for them.
Apprenticeships are basically free money for the companies and so many apply - because they're now open to older people - that companies and orgs like the national trust can pick and choose

This is a real thing here and part of the change is that many more older people, who would previously have retired, need jobs.

we live near a tourist attraction and for many many years it was almost a right of passage that all teens in the village either made money by babysitting, delivering newspapers, or working in the tourist attraction. Now the vast majority of part time staff in the tourist place are adults, the bulk of them being 60+ - they’re more flexible because they don’t have school, they don’t disappear off to uni after a couple of summers and there are no working hour restrictions.

My teen is one of the few teenage babysitters left and I firmly believes that is only really a thing because she almost inherited the job from her older sister and so has strong word of mouth. Most babysitters now are nursery staff topping up income (and people understandably aren’t as keen on asking random teens to babysit).

Totally agree. We are the same, it is too expensive to hire young people now, they take too much time to train and aren’t that productive - that was fine when they were cheaper to employ but now it’s just not worth it. I really hate to say it but they also tend to be incredibly needy and almost all the young people we have employed in the last few years have varying levels of mental health problems, which is actually incredibly hard to deal with in a small business.

Seriously, I know I've already said it and it's not not going to work for everyone but there are several parents posting on here to describe their hard working and capable young adult children who are struggling to find work.

My daughter has as much work as she wants through her agency alongside university. No, it's not a permanent contract but it's far better than a zero hours contract giving 8 hours a month.

I have two cousins aged 17 & 18, both studying, both working part time in B&Q. My niece is a student, also working part time in a bar. There are jobs out there if you put in the effort to get one. When I was a student I got two part time jobs by walking into shops and asking if they had any jobs going. I’m also diagnosed autistic and it was very difficult to do it but I needed money so I had to force myself to do it despite how uncomfortable and stressful it was. Initiative and genuine need to survive seems to have escaped a lot of young people nowadays. They are mollycoddled and have been raised with ridiculously unrealistic expectations about what they should expect from life at the launch stage.

So given the cost of living and the cost of rent, you’d happily force people and families onto the streets? You sound like a typical Reform supporter!

Most people (not all obviously, especially when MH is concerned) will find the drive to work quick enough once their actual livelihood depends on it.

I support having welfare systems in place, they’re absolutely necessary in society, but there also need to be measures in place to prevent people staying at home just because. Unless they’re privately funded by their family, in which case do whatever they want.

Brexit again.
I hate the people who voted for it with a passion.

My son (17) has been looking for a job for a year. He is in further education and has tried local businesses, handing out CVS, online job recruitment, big brands and he has only managed 2 interviews out of over 200 job applications. One retailer said they had over 600 applications, this was just for stacking shelves.

He has experience from volunteering and still nothing.

A lot of businesses aren't interested in under 18s and with businesses worrying about financial issues, no local businesses are taken on.

Meanwhile, we have pensioners taking quite a few of these jobs, the one in Asda recently looked half dead, makes me sad that younger people aren't given an opportunity and the older people obviously don't feel financially comfortable enough to enjoy retirement.

What would slashing welfare result in for those on benefits? 30 pence per day?

My first job after uni (accountancy) paid 8k, which is 17k in today's money. It shows how much of the job market is more than covered by the "minimum" wage.

I feel sorry for the ones who do want to work and who are putting in hundreds of applications but getting nowhere. I'm dreading ds2 graduating and how he'll cope, as he does want to work, but will get demoralised if he doesn't get anywhere.

It could be that current socialising factors are partly to blame? Back in the 80s even if you were a recipient you’d still have to go out to socialise or do pretty much most things, nowadays young people can do everything from their bedroom.

My workplace works with young men in long term unemployment and the story is pretty much always the same: they live their lives holed up in their bedrooms til their family is fed up. But once they’re “forced” to work, they generally do alright. Not brilliant, but at least something.

My son has 2 degrees and can't get a job. He's applying for jobs in his field and anything that comes up eg tesco, local shops, everything. He'll take anything.

He gets interviews but nothing more. Why? Because he's autistic.

He'd bloody love a job if anyone would give him a damn chance!

When you think about how many shops and fast food have self service tills now that’s a big change in only a short time. Lots of shop chains and pub chains closed.
Contracts are also often zero hour or requirement for 24/7 availability.
I think the issue of not easily being able to find work at 16/17 means they hit 18 and need paying more but can’t compete with older people with experience. My dd got lucky at 16 and got taken on at McDonalds where she worked for 2 years during sixth form but I think that was down to particular store who was happy to manage them as whilst they were cheaper to pay under 18 there were more restrictions meaning lots of employers don’t want hassle.
Good point about older people working longer or opting for paid roles over volunteering due to cost of living.
Despite experience my dd hasn’t been able to get a pt job at uni. She did work last summer. Mine recently applied for a uni role for short term call centre type work - application involved uploading a video and attending an assessment group interview day and giving a presentation, lots of hoops for a months pt work.

There are simply not enough job vacancies for the unemployed. The economy has been in a terrible state for the past five years and is getting steadily worse.

Total estimated vacancies were down by 69,000 (8.6%) in October to December 2025 from the level of a year ago, decreasing in 13 of the 18 industry sectors.
There were 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy in September to November 2025; this is up from 2.4 in the previous quarter (June to August 2025) and up from 1.9 in September to November 2024.

www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/bulletins/jobsandvacanciesintheuk/january2026

Genuine question, why did he do another if he is already struggling to get a job in his field?

I think figures likely a lot higher.
My two older kids are doing ok but i worry hugely for my ds who is graduating this year with tens of thousands of student debt, socially awkward and has struggled to even get part time jobs during Uni despite wanting to work. i am also losing my job shortly so there will likely be two of us job searching.
My dd is doing Nursing training and getting herself into a tiz about lack of nursing jobs. the whole situation just seems shitty right now.

No benefits (unless disabled and unable to work - this isn’t an attack on genuinely disabled people), without carrying out volunteer work for a certain number of hours a week. Gardening, jobs out in the community etc. That shouldn’t apply just to young people, that should apply to all job seekers claiming benefits. Yes there would be a large cost to set the scheme up but it should become the norm over time that nobody who is looking for work (unless financially able to support themselves) is just sat at home doing nothing.

Tradesman are hugely in demand in our area so hopefully more apprenticeships and better career advice will help train young people up. Pushing everyone to Uni 20+ years was the worst decision. I hope Uni goes back to being for the few rather than the majority, for jobs you absolutely can’t do without a degree.

We need more apprenticeships and more incentives for businesses to take on young people.

Has he been in contact with any of the charities and organisations helping autistic people get into work? If he’s getting interviews then he may just need a bit of help with interview technique / mentoring and that’s the kind of thing most of them are quite good at.

Totally agree with this and see the same outcomes.

We’re talking mainly about school leavers here, most of whom won’t have rent.

But yes, UC does pay rent although there is a limit in each area and the limit may be too low to cover the rent. So for example in my area the limit is roughly £1000 per month for a 1 bedroom property but rent is typically £1500.

I wonder how many people healthy Brits would get off benefits if the National Living Wage was increased to £20-25 per hour let's say. There is an incentive there to live and build yourself up. On the minimum wage, there is zero.

What type of work is he looking for (in which field?) and did he check job chances in this field before going to Uni?

My DH has a degree, works very long hours for his company and he did need a degree for his job. In his friendship group, several are tradesman earning not far off what he earns and they are all home by 5pm, live in nice houses, holidays etc.

We ruined the pride in having something like two degrees (which he should be proud of) by sending far too many people to Uni for ‘the experience’. My friend has a travel and tourism degree - she realises herself it was utterly pointless going to Uni.

My son applied for 100's of entry level jobs and was not even offered an interview. Crfeate jobs not endless "schemes" and "support"