Can we talk about NEETs?

[MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack]

Sorry if there's a thread already and I've missed it. But I want to talk about NEETs.

Apparently, we are potentially going to have 1.25million young people not in employment, education or training by the early 2030s. This is quite an alarming number, and it feels like we're failing an entire generation - both the NEETs themselves, who don't seem to have very much going on in their lives that might give them a sense of satisfaction or achievement, but also their working peers who will presumably end up having to support them via the tax system.

I really don't want this to be a thread with lots of judgement or criticism of these young people - it seems to me that we must have failed them somehow as a society. I also want to steer clear of party politics if we can. But I really want to understand why we have so many young people in this position right now.

Does anyone have a child in this situation who would be willing to share why they find themselves in this position? What are the barriers to them studying or getting at least a part time job? Are they happy with how things are right now? Are they trying to change their situation? What do they actually do all day? Are they surrounded by friends who are in the same position? What do they do about money? And what do you feel about the whole situation as a parent?

If anyone is willing to share, I really hope we can avoid a pile-on in which the young people and/or their parents are subjected to a character assassination. I would like an honest and frank exchange of views and experiences because I do genuinely want to understand the root causes of this issue, but if it descends into blame and fingerpointing, then the whole conversation will get derailed.

For full disclosure, I do have a dc in the middle of the 16-24 age group, but neither she nor any of her friends fall into this category.

I have a relative who graduated during Covid. The expected opportunities were lost because of lockdown and subsequent jobs have gone to newer graduates.

He is working, but only doing part-time bar work. At the moment, he's not earning enough to trigger paying off his student loan. He really needs to re-train, but I'm not sure how that would be financed.

Well we could take a lot at the enormous underfunding of youth centres under the Conservative government but don't want to make it political. But think last year there were about 15.....yes...15 people enrolled on youth work degrees. Just saying.

My youngest ds is not NEET as still at college, but he’s been trying to get a part time job for ages with no luck. He’s applied for so many jobs but they won’t take him on because he has no experience, but he can’t get any experience because nobody will give him his first job!! Online his cv is screened and rejected, so he’s also walked around handing his CV out to smaller businesses but they only employ a few staff and are bombarded with young people looking for jobs. His mates that have jobs have usually got them through a relative or someone they know getting them in. Many of them have struggled. My DS is friendly and confident with no issues so it’s all kinds of young people who are finding it difficult.

So pleased your son managed to turn things around @Nat6999, that’s brilliant. Out of interest, is there much work out there as a Planner? Only asking as I’ve fantasied about doing the Urban Planning masters and changing career myself (although I’m probably far too old).

A young person who in Not in Education, Employment or Training

What a lame, lazy and pathetic response.

I think a lot comes down to poor parenting or at least indifferent parenting.

My dsis had a neet who dropped out of uni, MH problems etc. She spent time listening to what he hated about life - feeling cramped and confined, the boredom of office life etc - and she found him a volunteer position working away in a rural environment. Supported him for two years until he was taken on as an employee, helped with money until he earned a bit more. Now he's independent, happy, good career but nothing that school or uni ever offered.
My ds was shy, spent too much time on-line but a strong swimmer. At 15 I suggested if he wanted a Saturday job, he might train as a pool lifeguard. Didn't mention it again, left the idea to take root. At 16 he asked for a training course for his birthday. Then I helped with his cv and applying to every leisure centre, private school & sports club within 10 miles. Phoned them weekly until there was an opening. He got his job as he turned 17. Now he has much more confidence, knows how to work as a team, a year's customer service experience and a reference, savings for uni and a way to earn money while studying.
Kids need help getting started, and we can't leave that to schools. Parents need to get involved and think about what will suit their child's interests and aptitudes, and show their dcs how it works.

What a thoughtless unhelpful comment.

No, what would make you think I was being facetious? The description matched up with "slackers."

Applying for jobs these days is awful. It's a soul crushing process, especially now there's prescreening with AI. If we want to solve youth unemployment (or any unemployment), we need options for getting people through the door in the first place.

I've struggled with finding work all my life. I got a good job with potential for progression after I finished my A levels (didn't want to go to uni at that time), but it was taken from me by echos of the 2008 financial crash affecting the pharmaceutical research sector. Other jobs I've also lost through no fault of my own- the arts Council project I was working with was closed down 3 months after I started, and a tour company I was working with fired all their guides with 1 weeks notice because they switched to automated electric guiding.

My CV is a mess. There's probably plenty of other people with a similar history. When I was applying for jobs back in the UK, I would just get rejection after rejection, even for pretty entry level stuff that I have a track record in (like reception work).

I'm lucky enough to have a husband who's happy to support me, and now I live somewhere where I could always do English teaching as a fallback. I really feel for the unemployed youth back in the UK though.

It might be worth him trying to get in with a catering agency if there's anything like that around you? I did that at college age to do silver service waitress and kitchen porter work at a racetrack. It was pretty horrible work but it got me experience and some money.

The job market is decimated because IT/AI is now running businesses rather than human beings, incompetently IMO. (Don’t get me on my feelings about constantly having bots to deal with. That’s for another thread.)

Bill Gates said recently that he believes that AI will take over most jobs within 10 years. IT and medicine were reasonably safe. Might be extreme, but the speed at which things are running now does make you think. And worry.

One more thing- I've done volunteering/piece work in agriculture a few times over the years, and at one point lived on a farm which took on volunteers. We quite often had young people working alongside us. They would have happily picked fruit and veg as a full time job, but access was an issue.

Unless you have a vehicle, it's very hard to get to the fields. If farmers could put on minibuses to the local town centre, they'd find it much easier to get pickers, and young people could take that work.

@floppybit Always worth getting some basic experience through volunteering Your ds could do two evenings a month at a soup kitchen and pay to get a food hygiene certificate. That would give your child an advantage over most applicants for cafe/bar work.

We live rurally and ds' best mate learnt to drive a tractor. He gets plenty of casual work.

Another classmate is working weekends as a beekeeper for a local farm co-op, having learned the basics at an evening class.

Does this help @MsAmerica? Cambridge Dictionary says the following. Rude and insensitive thing to say, yes?

slacker
noun [ C ] informal disapprovingUK /ˈslæk.ər/ US /ˈslæk.ɚ/
Add to word list

a person who does not work hard enough:
Those slackers have gone home early again.
Synonym
shirker

I'm not technically in this situation, because I have a part-time job but I'm not far off. I'm in my late 20s, I'm autistic, and I have ADHD along with lifelong chronic health issues. Despite a bachelor's and master's degree in a field I'm passionate about, I have really struggled finding work with my limitations. I'm now working a zero-hours role where I work anything from 4 to 12 hours a week, and although the busier weeks knock me for six I wouldn't want to be without it. I'm currently looking to go back on ADHD medication and try new treatments for some of my chronic health issues with the hope to manage more hours in the future. Currently my income is supplemented by a benefit intended to make up a minimum living wage, though ideally I'd love to exceed that most weeks with my actual income.

Ultimately, I went through a charity who work with local companies specifically to help disabled people into jobs. They cut through a lot of the social barriers I really struggled with when it came to interviews and networking. Their waiting list has increased massively in the last few years and I know that, despite being one of their "easier" cases, it still took two years for me to find work with their assistance. I started with a volunteer role which developed into my current zero-hours contract, which I know I'm very lucky to have. I don't know what the solution is, societally. I was just lucky, and even then I worry intensely about my future.

clearly there’s lots of reasons why there are NEETs such as schools not setting kids up with skills needed for employment - to covid and massive nhs waiting lists leaving kids with anxiety or other health needs to be without support in the short term…..

However, are youngsters looking at where the UK has skill gaps in sectors such as construction health care engineering technology and digital? If it were me I would be researching how my strengths could meet demand in any of these sectors and working in a care home or as a labourer or after school club or nursery worker whilst I worked out long term plans that could allow me to progress further in the future……

During covid my DD was out of work so she volunteered at a local covid testing centre, just doing the admin, booking people in. The management looked at her cv, saw that she was over qualified for the job and asked her if she was interested in working in one of their other departments.

She took the job on and within six months she was promoted. She had a pay rise after 12 months and then got promoted again. Now, after 3 years she is in a management role at the same company.

She was lucky that they recognised her qualifications, knowledge and experience. She was also lucky that she was in the right place at the right time BUT the job had not been advertised, she would not have found a place in that company if she was just looking at job vacancies. She got it through volunteering her time and showing up.

Sometimes that's all it takes. Volunteering can open doors and present opportunities. She has received so much training since she's been there, has grown in confidence and has lots more to put on her cv should she want to move on.

It’s not just NEETS, it’s also the hugely “underemployed”.
I have a bright and capable 22 yr old with no health issues.
University degree , lived away from home and worked every summer in hospitality.

Has applied for well over 100 jobs related to their degree in the past year but only had 4 interviews. Because virtually ALL the jobs ask for experience in the role already, even at entry level.
So has had to move home again and working 2 shifts a week in a pub as that’s all they can get.

Several of their Uni friends are in the same situation and 2 are claiming benefits as they can’t get ANY job.

If we don’t start investing the time and effort in young, capable, enthusiastic people in the workplace, instead of only wanting experienced people who can hit the ground running, these bright capable kids will take their selves overseas to countries who do want them and be lost to our future workforce

I feel business have to take a large part of the blame here. Constantly cutting jobs, offshoring and automating in order to increase profits has had a knock on effect on society, and it's only going to get worse as AI uptake increases.

Might a solution be to force successful business to employ a percentage of young people? Ban retail going self-check out? Ban chat bots? I know we have to move with the times and accept change, but it has clearly happened too fast for society and there needs to be legislation if businesses act in a manner that doesn't benefit society.

And phones. Social media. It is damaging people, and young people are most at risk. Algorithms are too strong, they influence thought in a cult-like way. Everyone is in their own little bubble of their interests and beliefs, the algorithms push more and more of the same, and it becomes harder to relate to anyone not like you.

The course has a 95% employment rate within a year of graduating, his friend who has just finished has already got a job with a council planning department before he gets his results. It's at Sheffield University & has been rated the best in the country for Urban Studies & Planning. As you know it's a 4 year Mplan course & you graduate with a Masters & are also a Chartered Planner. There are some social science modules included in the course as well as the more geography type things. Ds dream job after graduating would be to work as a transport planner designing transport systems for towns & cities, he's a transport nerd, trains, trams & buses are his obsession, it's one advantage of his autism. Don't be worried about being too old to do the degree, there are some students who are in their late 30's on his course.

A big part of the reason young people can't get jobs may be the fact the retirement age has risen, as fewer people are retiring there is less natural movement to create entry level jobs that the young people would normally get.

It takes luck too. I volunteered at a covid vaccination programme. They just used me as a glorified sign; I was literally just there to tell people "please go out through the door at the end of the corridor" and give them a sticker if they wanted.

No chance for progression or anything else. I did talk to the healthcare staff on breaks and gently tried to network a little, as I had experience in medical admin, but no luck there.

I also think use of AI in the recruitment process doesn’t help. It doesn’t recognise transferable skills. There was a recruiter on TV talking about how if a job is, say, in Admin or payroll and the job ad mentioned the systems they use, AI is looking for use of those systems on your application and without those it’s not getting through. When in reality we’re all aware that if a person can successfully learn to use one system they can learn to use another. The parameters are too narrow with AI screening so people with little or no experience are never going to get their application through to the stage of being looked at by a human!

I see it on here a lot, people encouraging someone to change career as they have lots of transferable skills but that’s becoming very difficult now because AI doesn’t recognise those skills

Yes, it's definitely luck. As I said, my DD was lucky BUT if she hadn't been volunteering in the first place, she would never have even known about the job because it was not advertised.