Top tips for Gen Z job hunters – and why it's not all doom and gloom
Young people, especially graduates, are facing the toughest job market since 2018, drawing parallels to the author's experience during the 2008 financial crash.
The rise of artificial intelligence is significantly impacting entry-level jobs, with a nearly one-third reduction in such roles since ChatGPT 's launch.
Increased labour costs, including higher national insurance contributions and the minimum wage, are also contributing to employers reducing headcounts.
Current difficulties are due to economic conditions rather than individual failings.
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BBC News
23 minutes ago
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North Northants food voucher scheme reopens
A supermarket voucher scheme that was paused by a council due to too much demand has Northamptonshire Council said residents now had until 25 August to apply for the Household Support Fund (HSF).Low-income families, pensioners, and people with disabilities were able to apply, with the amount handed out dependent on the size of the Wilcox, Reform UK councillor and executive member for communities at the authority, said: "This fund is designed to reach those who need a helping hand and it is great news that we are now in a position to reopen for applications." The scheme had been paused since the middle of last month due to a large number of people applying since it started on 23 vouchers were funded by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP).A single person could apply for a £150 voucher, a two-person household for £260 and a household with three people for £ council said the scheme would close during September and then reopen on 1 October. Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.
BBC News
23 minutes ago
- BBC News
Harbour Bar: 'We've been here 80 years so we're doing something right'
Known for its 1950s American diner interior, yellow staff uniforms and Knickerbocker Glory sundaes, Scarborough's Harbour Bar has been serving up sweet treats in the seaside resort since the popular ice cream parlour celebrate 80 years in business the BBC paid a visit to find out more about its enduring appeal. Situated at the far end of South Bay Beach overlooking the West Pier, the Harbour Bar has been pulling in holidaymakers since it was opened by the Alonzi family at the end of World War owner Giulian Alonzi - who was born in the flat above - has been working at the shop on and off since he was just aged 77, over the intervening years he has come to know the business like the back of his hand."You get to the stage where you can walk through the building, you hear sounds and you know everything is OK," he says."Then you hear a different sound and you think, hang on what's going on? I have a sixth sense." The Harbour Bar was opened by Giulian's dad, Tony, mum Annie, and auntie, Lucy, in August 1945."My auntie used to drive trucks for a market gardener in Scarborough, who made a lot of money during the war," the owner explains. "We were a poor family and he financed us. I think it was about £7,000 and we were able to get these two properties, which were eventually knocked together."On the first day of business, the family could only open up shop for two hours due to rationing - but from day one it seems they were on to a winning formula."My father had certificates from the Ministry of Food, so he was able to get milk powder and sugar," Giulian says."He was also able to get black market milk from local farmers and managed to put together an ice cream recipe. "Within two hours, they had sold out, there was nothing left."The Alonzis took £48 on opening day - more than £2,600 in today's money - and were able to establish a successful business. From a young age Giulian said he and his two sisters were put to work, helping in the shop."I started when I was 12," he smiles."It's the finest thing that can happen to a child having a job, as long as they're looked after."I was quite popular with the visitors, I used to collect glasses. "On Saturday morning when they came into the Harbour Bar, they used to give me half crowns and two bobs which I used to spend in the amusements."Although Giulian went to Leeds to study accounting he soon came back to Scarborough to help out with the ice cream making. A few years later he met his wife Theresa, who has worked at The Harbour Bar for 46 years. "She was a great worker, that's why I married her," he laughs. In the heart of the parlour is a G-shaped bar lined with red stools, made to look like the first letter of Giulian's the years he says small, gradual changes have been made but the overall recipe is the same."The basic concept of people sitting around the bar, children coming in and standing on the stools and having an ice cream, everybody remembers that," he says. "We've changed the lino, we've changed the decorations but the layout and the way we do things have stayed the same."Although tempting to surrender to modern technology, Giulian decided against getting a coffee machine, choosing instead to stick to the old ways of making coffee that customers has also kept the yellow uniforms for the shop girls, inspired by the outfits worn by American diner girls he would see on TV."The yellow colour reminds people of The Harbour Bar, some people call them canaries," Giulian says. Giulian credits The Harbour Bar's success to the staff who work there. "You have to have a good idea but the most important thing is a good staff, and when you get good staff, you've got to look after them," he says. "We've been established a long time so I think we've got a bit of stamina but it's getting very tough in business."Among the staff working at the ice cream parlour is 24-year-old Molly Newham, who has been there for seven years. "I work here with my sisters, my grandma worked here for 35 years as well," she says."We'd come down here on Boxing Day because it's quite a big tradition and we'd spend quite a lot of the summer holidays here as well."Molly recalls getting a voucher from the kids club in the school holidays and sharing a big sundae with her grandparents."People have a lot of family memories associated with this place," she says four generations of a family sometimes work in the shop, as well as visit in the holidays. Asked why people keep returning, he adds: "I think it's trust because we give them good ice creams."When you've been here 80 years, you've been doing something right. "But you can't sit back, you've got to keep cleaning, keep opening, keep serving and that's what we do." Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Times
an hour ago
- Times
Why ‘dynamic pay' is the new way to rip you off
Workers are having their wages cut by new 'dynamic pay' schemes, unions and academics have warned. The practice of surge pricing came under fire after firms used demand to drive up the cost of Oasis reunion tickets. Some gig-economy workers, including Uber drivers and Deliveroo workers, are having their own problems with surge pricing, because their pay is adjusted based on real-time demand. The pay models are based on algorithms. Instead of receiving a predictable, formula-based fee per task, workers are being offered personalised payments for each job. A University of Oxford study published in June found that Uber's 'dynamic pay' system, introduced in 2023 and which alters pay as well as passenger fares, is cutting driver earnings on higher-value trips. Unlike the familiar surge pricing that bumps up fares during busy times to get more drivers on the road, the 'dynamic' system also tweaks how the fare is split, often meaning Uber takes a bigger cut and drivers end up with less. Reuben Binns, an associate professor at Oxford's Department of Computer Science, said: 'The higher the value of the trip, the more of a cut Uber takes. So the more the customer pays, the less the driver actually earns per minute. • What is Ticketmaster, the $22bn music giant under fire for 'dynamic pricing'? 'Workers try all sorts of things to cope — switching apps, refusing certain jobs, tracking their own data — but they're always a step behind the algorithm. 'Platforms are getting more secretive over time. They've moved from a relatively transparent system to a much more complicated one. If this model becomes widespread, it raises big questions about how workers can plan their finances.' Katie Wells, an academic from Georgetown University in Washington DC who studies algorithmic pay systems, said similar models are appearing in other sectors, including healthcare in the US where nurses bid for shifts. She said: 'Uber's personalised wages and prices echo what's happening with grocery prices, plane tickets, and other goods increasingly being priced with granular data.' One London-based Uber driver, who asked to remain anonymous, said: 'I have noticed that our fares or the amount we receive have gone down. Plenty of the drivers I know complain that Uber is deducting more than expected. Many drivers are getting frustrated. 'One of my fellow drivers said he wants to quit Uber because he feels like it's tormenting him as he works so hard just to make £140 a day. I reject a lot of jobs based on fares now. You have to see what job brings you more money.' The former Uber driver Ronak Kazi, 39, said the pay system often felt unpredictable. 'We would get very different amounts for very similar jobs,' he said. Henry Chango Lopez, general secretary of the Independent Workers' Union of Great Britain (IWGB), said: 'The spread of dynamic pricing models should worry us all. These systems keep workers in a constant state of anxiety — forced to make hundreds of snap decisions a day without any transparency into how pay is calculated. It's not just that the game is rigged, it's that workers aren't even allowed to know the rules.' Lopez said that many drivers were working 70-hour weeks under the model and still struggling to cover basic costs, noting that Uber's adoption of dynamic pay preceded the largest driver strike in UK history. • Read more money advice and tips on investing from our experts The GMB union says the lack of transparency in how platforms calculate pay highlights the inequalities between workers and operators, increasing insecurity in already low-income roles. Alex Wood, an assistant professor in economic sociology at the University of Cambridge, said: 'Platforms use dynamic pricing to manage supply and demand, but these systems are highly opaque. It's impossible for workers to know how much they will earn, causing insecurity and anxiety in a population where many already earn below the minimum wage.' A Deliveroo spokesperson said: 'Our rider pay model is designed for flexibility and transparency. All riders have access to information on how orders are offered and how fees are calculated on our website. Riders have the freedom to determine when, where and whether they will work and earnings are measured based on factors such as the time riders spend on each order.' An Uber spokesman said: 'We do not recognise the figures in this report. We're focused on offering people a safe, affordable and easy option to get where they need to go and are proud that thousands of drivers continue to make the positive choice to work on Uber as passenger demand and trips continue to grow.'
