Britain's holiday job disaster leaves teenagers to idle their summer away

Telegraph

16 hours ago

This summer, teenagers and students who would usually be serving ice creams, working the tills and pulling pints during tourist season are finding that they're no longer in demand.
'I don't understand how nobody is hiring me,' writes a student on Reddit who is desperate for summer work. 'The other day the guy interviewing me says there was 120 applicants and he was interviewing 25 people to fill two roles. I honestly just want something to do.'
The plunge in part-time vacancies is not because of a lack of tourism during the summer months. Instead, bosses are being forced to cutback on summer holiday roles because Rachel Reeves's tax raid, announced during the autumn Budget, has made hiring more expensive.
Since Reeves unveiled an increase in employers' National Insurance contributions (NICs) and lowered the threshold at which it is paid, around 84,000 jobs in hospitality disappeared. In June, when bars and restaurants typically staff-up for the short-lived English summer, job openings in the sector plunged by over 22,000 compared with the same month last year.
The figures, from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, have led industry groups to warn of the 'death of the great British summer job'. Pub owners admit that tax rises are wiping out temporary roles first.
'Every pub and restaurant has had to cut back on shifts – you look after your regular staff first to give them decent hours so temporary staff have been hit hard,' says Clive Watson, the founder of the City Pub Company.
Parents worried that their children have been idling away their summer after failing to find any work are now taking matters into their own hands.
'A lot of parents are ringing me up trying to find jobs for their teenagers,' admits one pub boss who has been inundated with CVs in recent weeks.
Bill Dowling, who runs Compton McCrae, a farm shop and cafe in Dorset, has also had parents contact him.
'I have had more inquiries this year than normal,' he says. 'Parents think their kids should be out earning their own money.'
In some households, tensions are growing. 'Mum forces me to be proactive with work but I'd rather be watching cricket and playing golf,' admits one university student, who blames older graduates unable to get full-time jobs for snapping up temporary summer work.
A recent graduate adds: 'The reason I've ended up doing a lower-paid job like waitressing – where I still struggle to pick up shifts – is because I applied to lots of well-paid internships [this summer] but didn't get them.'
Graduate job postings fell 33pc in the 12 months to June compared with last year, according to Indeed, meaning that there are more older, experienced candidates now competing for part-time summer shifts.
As more job hunters battle for far fewer roles, those with blank CVs feel stuck. Kate Nicholls, chairman of UKHospitality, the industry trade body, says young people aren't learning soft skills or gaining confidence because 'jobs which would normally have given them the ability to do that are being taxed out of existence'.
'As a parent and an employer, I'm really worried about this generation of young people,' she adds.
Concerned that younger staff with no experience are paying the price for the tax raid, Nicholls wants the Government to offer tax breaks to companies that hire the unemployed or long-term sick. She has urged Sir Charlie Mayfield, the former boss of John Lewis and head of the Government's Keep Britain Working review, to take note as he prepares to publish his conclusions this autumn.
'Extending NIC holidays for those returning to work from long-term sickness, unemployment, or those who are disabled would give businesses the incentives to recruit and make it financially viable to retain these part-time, entry-level opportunities,' she says, adding that she has made this request 'explicit' in meetings related to the Keep Britain Working review.
In the meantime, unemployed teenagers, students and graduates are giving each other tips online on how to secure summer work – such as avoiding traditional hospitality roles and instead considering 'more niche jobs' such as car washing – while parents are grumbling about their children playing video games for up to 12 hours a day.
Many feel despondent. Already hit hard by the impact of the pandemic on their education and social lives, Nicholls says that the dearth of summer roles is yet another blow for the lockdown generation.
'This was a generation badly impacted by Covid – they missed those rite of passage summer jobs and they missed work experience at school as well. They've had no chance to build up their experience. It's not that the work isn't there or that we don't need staff, it's that we simply can't afford them [since tax rises in the Budget].'
The hopelessness set in early in the summer. A 16-year-old with no work experience wrote online in early June that they had applied for more than 40 roles and only received five interviews.
'I was rejected from four of them and haven't heard back from the other one. I'm feeling ready to give up,' they wrote on Reddit.
Simon Stenning, a hospitality industry expert, says that younger workers are bearing the brunt of Reeves's tax rises because although they are cheaper than older staff 'they are also less effective, which is hard for operators to afford when every labour cost is under the microscope'.
Those who can't rely on family wealth to bankroll their summer plans are being hit the hardest, scrambling for work and going to interview after interview, while those who don't need the money barely notice.
'My son is too well supported by his parents [to care about the lack of summer jobs],' admits one father who works in finance.
A teenager who lives in a wealthy London suburb also admits that she and her friends aren't looking for traditional summer jobs, instead preferring ad hoc babysitting or catering shifts which can slot around their holidays or movie marathons.
US studies have shown that those who need these temporary jobs the most are the least likely to get them. Around 44pc of 16 to 19-year-olds from families earning $150,000 (£113,000) or more were employed between June and August 2023, according to official figures, compared with 27pc of teens from families earning less than $30,000.
As the job pool for entry-level roles shrinks, those from top universities or with more experience are poised to benefit while thousands of others lose out. After a long, frustrating summer, concerns are growing for jobless teenagers.
'The danger we've got is children leaving school and looking for entry-level experience who are then potentially moving into long-term unemployment,' says Nicholls. 'We know that impacts their life chances. People are worried.'