Tackling Youth Unemployment

The recent report The Youth Inquiry – Employers’ perspectives on tackling youth unemployment (by the UK Commission for Skills & Employment, March 2011) looks at measures to help the young unemployed from the employers’ point of view.

 

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the vast majority of employers who recruit young people straight from school, college and university find them well or very well prepared for work, with preparedness improving with time spent in education.

It might be fair to conclude that the often repeated “we don’t employ school leavers because they can’t ...” is more likely to come from employers who don’t employ young people. Those who do employ them usually find young people well prepared.

 

 

Those who find them poorly prepared cite lack of work and life experience as the main reason.

 

The conventional wisdom that poor education or lack of literacy and numeracy skills is a major problem is not backed up by the evidence. Just 3.4 per cent of employers who recruit 16 year old school leavers find them poorly prepared for work because of deficiencies in literacy or numeracy. These percentages fall even further for college leavers and university leavers. Another common criticism is that poor education is a cause - again only 2.3 per cent of employers recruiting 16 year old school leavers cited this reason.   

 

By contrast employers most often cite lack of experience, both in terms of experience of work and general life experience, as the reason for poor preparedness. This issue is particularly the case for school leavers where 16 per cent of employers who recruit school leavers cite this issue. For 16 year old school leavers and college leavers motivation and attitude are also cited by similar proportions to those citing lack of experience. Importantly there is agreement between employers and unemployed young people on the importance of experience. Recent research found that lack of experience was the factor most commonly cited (68 per cent) by young unemployed people when asked what was preventing them getting work.

 
 

Those employers who engaged with government initiatives to reduce unemployment think that overall the provision is comprehensive but confused, with too many initiatives and too many organisations involved. Awareness of the offer amongst employers in general varies from very high for established initiatives (around 50 per cent for Apprenticeships, Train to Gain and New Deal).

Many employers, particularly larger employers, failed to see the merit in a ‘pledge’ style campaign such as ‘Backing Young Britain’ as it had no particular impact on them. The result was that they were reluctant to sign up or did so without necessarily changing their behaviour.

There is broad consensus that Apprenticeships are good for the individual, the employer and the state. The Inquiry found only positive things to say. Programmes that either broker or financially support internships or work experience placements again enjoy broad support. But this was another area where there was confusion as there were numerous programmes.

Further Information

 

Click for the full report.  

 

Trevor Bottomley
Employment & Labour Market Adviser
Central London Connexions
April 2011
 

The recent report The Youth Inquiry – Employers’ perspectives on tackling youth unemployment (by the UK Commission for Skills & Employment, March 2011) looks at measures to help the young unemployed from the employers’ point of view.

 

Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the vast majority of employers who recruit young people straight from school, college and university find them well or very well prepared for work, with preparedness improving with time spent in education.

It might be fair to conclude that the often repeated “we don’t employ school leavers because they can’t ...” is more likely to come from employers who don’t employ young people. Those who do employ them usually find young people well prepared.

 

 

Those who find them poorly prepared cite lack of work and life experience as the main reason.

 

The conventional wisdom that poor education or lack of literacy and numeracy skills is a major problem is not backed up by the evidence. Just 3.4 per cent of employers who recruit 16 year old school leavers find them poorly prepared for work because of deficiencies in literacy or numeracy. These percentages fall even further for college leavers and university leavers. Another common criticism is that poor education is a cause - again only 2.3 per cent of employers recruiting 16 year old school leavers cited this reason.   

 

By contrast employers most often cite lack of experience, both in terms of experience of work and general life experience, as the reason for poor preparedness. This issue is particularly the case for school leavers where 16 per cent of employers who recruit school leavers cite this issue. For 16 year old school leavers and college leavers motivation and attitude are also cited by similar proportions to those citing lack of experience. Importantly there is agreement between employers and unemployed young people on the importance of experience. Recent research found that lack of experience was the factor most commonly cited (68 per cent) by young unemployed people when asked what was preventing them getting work.

 
 

Those employers who engaged with government initiatives to reduce unemployment think that overall the provision is comprehensive but confused, with too many initiatives and too many organisations involved. Awareness of the offer amongst employers in general varies from very high for established initiatives (around 50 per cent for Apprenticeships, Train to Gain and New Deal).

Many employers, particularly larger employers, failed to see the merit in a ‘pledge’ style campaign such as ‘Backing Young Britain’ as it had no particular impact on them. The result was that they were reluctant to sign up or did so without necessarily changing their behaviour.

There is broad consensus that Apprenticeships are good for the individual, the employer and the state. The Inquiry found only positive things to say. Programmes that either broker or financially support internships or work experience placements again enjoy broad support. But this was another area where there was confusion as there were numerous programmes.

Further Information

 

Click for the full report.  

 

Trevor Bottomley
Employment & Labour Market Adviser
Central London Connexions
April 2011