A sad statistic was revealed this Wednesday as unemployment amongst 16-24 year olds topped one million, the highest this figure has been for over 25 years.
There is no denying that today’s youth have drawn a short straw, as the value of university education comes under ever increasing scrutiny and few jobs exist for those who choose to go straight into work. Careers services have also taken a hit thanks to budget cuts, so help and guidance is relatively thin on the ground.
Young people are finding themselves in the classic Catch 22 position of not being able to get a job without experience or experience without a job. While it may make sense in the short term for employers to prioritise those already established in their career, the long term picture looks somewhat bleaker. Who steps into replace these experienced workers when they retire? Will today’s workforce have a chance to properly train the next generation, or are we going to be left with severe skills shortages and knowledge gaps?
Businesses obviously want to avoid risk in the current climate, but the country faces a worse crisis if it fails to provide the young with opportunities to learn and develop their professional ability. There is absolutely no doubt that Britain needs to get younger people into jobs. The fact that many career-starters are willing to work long hours for free shows that there is a hunger to succeed which should not be ignored.
Some young people are even being forced to work up to 30 hours per week without pay in order to stay on jobseekers allowance (JSA), which is hard to believe given the ongoing pressure campaign against unpaid internships.
It is a huge waste of talent and potential to leave these people out of work, so perhaps it’s time we started giving our younger generation a chance. Other countries have successfully managed to run professional education schemes, backed by government and private industry, which help to nurture school leavers into long term careers. We would be advised to take heed of these models if we wish to prevent a skills vacuum in the future.