To think we need to start talking about the lack of jobs?

[Newmeagain]

This is prompted by quite a few threads I have read recently, from parents of young people looking for jobs or posters themselves struggling with finding a job.

I feel like a lot of responses are completely out of touch and people are not aware how hard it is right now. There are no “supermarket jobs” etc that you can just pick up.

I think this is having a particularly significant impact on school leavers and graduates looking for their first full time job, students wanting part time work and also anyone over 50 who suddenly finds themselves unemployed.

@RoyalIris my ds at 16 wanted a Saturday job and decided his best chance was as a pool lifeguard.
He took the training course at Easter '25 and passed. We made a list of every hotel, leisure centre, gym, private school etc within 10 miles that employed lifeguards and applied to them all via email, including a cv, covering letter and a copy of his certificate.
Then we phoned each of them every Friday lunchtime or Saturday morning until we heard of an opening (oddly because I asked at reception after having a swim one weekend). Took another cv pack and drove there immediately, went in to reception and asked to speak to the manager.
He got a phone call 3 days later.

That makes sense I remember the media trumpeting the deal and saying we’ll be able to sell more whisky and then when I looked at the numbers it was pathetic. But they got (I think) the agreement that their degrees have parity with ours. Which seems crazy when you can just buy a degree from a diploma mill over there.

Anyway, it’s the same in Australia and New Zealand and Canada and parts of US. There’s 1.5 billion Indians. Enough to replace every working adult in those countries with plenty to spare.

I went to a several food halls in London in the last year. Every second cuisine was staffed by Indians.

There's a possible truth to this. DS had a job interview recently with Swissport for ramp agent roles and most at the recruitment and interview day potential candidates were Indians. They said they were Indian themselves. So it's not a racial stereotype. DS didn't get the job. The hiring manager was....Indian.

@milkbiscuit Diploma mill degrees do not have parity with UK degrees. There are services that check the veracity of degrees internationally, and every UK employer is required to check before accepting a degree as valid for a visa. The issue is that there are tens of millions of well qualified genuine Indian graduates who will accept very low money just to be employed, and an N.I. exemption.

It took my nephew about a year to get a part time job. He is intelligent, personable and hard-working.

Totally agree, I work in the corporate world and all of the low level jobs have either been outsourced offshore or automated. They have now started on mid-level skilled jobs, the recent round if redundancies has seen over 200 jobs offshored, this isnt just to India either this is around the world but still cheaper wage countries.

If we are going to have exceptionally high taxes on people please can we invest that money in education and apprenticeships Vs benefits, and remove the extra national insurance cost from employers. Why does a 16 yo living at home need the same min wage as a 25 or 30 yo... Removing these barriers would increase the number of jobs for young people. I miss going to the pub / out for dinner but I can't afford it any more.

DD thought very carefully about her post grad degree and worked for a couple of years after her undergrad degree before starting her post grad degree.

The job market in her area is less dire than in other careers (there is actually a shortage of employees in her chosen career) and I recall the course director at the open day a couple of years ago stating that it was one of the few courses that would practically guarantee a job once the student was qualified.

I'm not sure how much the role will be negatively affected by AI as it is very much a role that requires interpersonal skills and human expertise it is less likely (a quick google confirmed this).

DD will apply for roles where the work is. She has uprooted twice so moving to a different city shouldn't be an issue.

I think it depends on industry and area .

lots of people complain that their school leavers can’t get a job on my local fb page , but my daughter who’s been washing up in a pub/ now works behind the bar at 18 has always had more hours then she can cope with, and has been offered other jobs while she’s been on shift . She got asked to work in the bistro across the road from her work last week .

in a similar vein , my son has been doing a paper round for a good year or so . He often does three or four rounds on a weekend, as they can’t get enough kids to do them (either the kids don’t want to do it because they already get enough pocket money or the parents don’t want them doing a paper round) and again it’s like having one job leads to another, as he has been told once he turns 16 he can move into the paper shop to work if he wants.

husband is a bus driver, and they currently have 8 vacancies. The company even puts people though their test so you don’t even have the “I don’t have a license” excuse

however , I know I would have competition if I looked for a new role , as TA s are being not replaced/ made redundant all over the country, and that will get worse with the decline in birth rate I assume.

They don't. NMW for a 16 or 17yo is £8 an hour.

There are definitely jobs if you really, really want them and desperately want a job. They're not always pleasant or desirable, but they are there:

• The armed forces are always taking people. You don't need to be skilled and you can get a lot of good experience and qualifications for free. I genuinely think this could be a positive move for lots of young people, it's just fallen way out of fashion.

• Care work (I know this has been mentioned) - not desirable to most people but work nonetheless.

• Fruit and veg picking - undesirable yes and filled with overseas workers as a result.

• There is a huge shortage of teachers nationwide. It's poorly paid, stressful, and has longer hours than you think.

• There is also a shortage of HGV drivers.

I think more people need to get used to not having the career they ideally want. I don't. I can't say I'm a massive fan of my career now, it's never what I wanted to do. But it pays the bills, so I do it.

This is such as British attitude. Foreign universities can't possibly be as good as UK universities. Having worked with a number of Indian outsourcers - the Universities there seem to have much more focus on employability skills, producing fantastic candidates, they seem to have much better partnerships with big employers to move their Graduates out into industry in their surrounding areas, and shaping courses around what the employers needs are.

There’s been the odd mention of care work. Health and social care covers a wide field and care and support work is a part of this.This country desperately needs care and support workers. Financially it can be OK (up to £4K a month net). It’s also great if you need something flexible. I’m surprised people are saying they know of people who’ve been out of work for years.

Nobody that finds care work or teaching undesirable should be going into these sectors!! We’re talking about our most vulnerable members of society being cared for by people who don’t want be there. There is enough abuse in the sector as there is.

Neurodiversity can be an issue and many mental health conditions can prevent you from joining the forces. Generally, you cannot join if you have a history of schizophrenia, OCD, personality disorders, eating disorders, or PTSD. Recent history of severe or ongoing anxiety, depression, deliberate self-harm, or suicide attempts will typically bar you from entry.

Not everybody is suited to driving massive lorries either. Accessing extortionate driving lessons and a test date for a car let alone lorries is a struggle for many young people as it is atm.

It is really difficult job market.

I have worked for 25 years and have never had any issues finding jobs before.

My last employer was awful and I ended up making a disability discrimination claim against them 8 months ago and they settled rather than going to an employment tribunal.

Since then I have job hunting and I have been able to do short term, freelance work.

It is tricky when you are over 50 and have a long term health condition and I had to start claiming contribution based JSA this month.

Although I have noticed things have picked up a bit in the past month and I finally have some interviews lined up.

I also looked at retraining but high tuition fees make that impossible and there is little government investment in adult education training for older people from the government.

I think Bexit, Covid then disastrous employer tax policies by Rachel Reeves have seriously damaged the job market and AI is accelerating that.

People not suited to it and who in reality don’t want to do it absolutely should not be doing health and social care work.

@tilypu my trainee forensic psychologist DD had to work as a cleaner last summer. It was the only job she could get.

Sure. But I meant to say that I don’t think everyone knows how vast the field is - I didn’t before I started. And that some people will be suited to some areas abd some others. And some completely unsuited to working anywhere in the industry.

OK this was the degree parity news

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-universities-boosted-by-landmark-agreement-with-india-to-recognise-qualifications

And this was from a quick google

https://amp.scmp.com/week-asia/people/article/3123929/indias-fake-degrees-hundreds-singapore-malaysia-us-canada-left

36,000 fake degrees from just one scheme, but we think we can catch them all?

Where do you look???

TAs are in incredibly high demand and this is only going to increase with SEND changes set to come in. Recent studies showing that up to three in four school leaders struggle to recruit them.The surge in pupils requiring SEND support is the main reason headteachers are actively looking for TAs who are increasingly asked to step in for targeted interventions, behaviour management, and even lesson cover. I think schools are struggling to recruit because of the increasing demand of what they’re expected to do and the fact they’re not paid enough. You can get more in Lidl. People can’t afford to do it.

But again only the right people who are properly qualified and who want to do it should be a TA.

Corruption from abroad in nursing is a big worry for me having vulnerable family members.

The UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) identified widespread qualifications fraud at the Yunnik Technologies Test Centre in Ibadan, Nigeria. Investigations revealed proxies took Computer-Based Tests (CBT) for international applicants.

In separate but related corruption cases involving individuals routing through Nigeria, organized crime groups have forged or stolen legitimate NHS IDs and used them as fake identities for unqualified workers in the UK.

Yes you’re right, there does seem to be a pipeline working to funnel Indian students across industries.

Can you explain why UK regional fast food jobs have been switched over as well?

There seems to be a fairly large population of people who apply for stuff just to keep the job center happy, then either don't turn up for for interviews (so much time wasted), turn up with the intention of not getting the job etc. It seems to be that there is a core of about 10% serious applicants and 90% are just on the application merry go round to keep the job seekers allowance being paid.

You’re confusing a few anecdotes with a statistic. Unless you’ve got evidence for that 90% figure, it’s just prejudice dressed up as fact.