Latest news with #LearningandWorkInstitute
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'I look every day for a job but there is nothing'
Towns and cities in north-east England are among the hardest places for young people to find work or training, according to a recent report. Middlesbrough was ranked fifth from bottom on the Youth Opportunity Index 2025, while Newcastle, Sunderland and County Durham were also among the toughest places for young people to start a career. The report, led by the Learning and Work Institute, analysed a range of factors, including education, apprenticeships and the quality of jobs available to 16 to 24-year-olds. It comes as the Tees Valley Combined Authority has been given £5m by the government for a Youth Guarantee Trailblazer scheme. Ranked out of 100 on the index, Sunderland scored 44, County Durham 43, Newcastle 40 and Middlesbrough received 31. Alfie is among those searching for apprenticeships or a part-time job in Sunderland, to earn money while at college. "Me mam says back in the day there used to be loads of jobs, you just couldn't not have one, but now it's just impossible," the 17-year-old said. "I look every night, every single day and night, I'm on my phone constantly looking and there is nothing at all." In Middlesbrough, 17-year-old Katie said finding even part-time work is incredibly hard. "I've looked on many websites and applied for many, many jobs and haven't heard back from any," she said. "They want someone who is more experienced, but it is difficult to get that experience if no one is willing to employ me." The government has funded Youth Guarantee Trailblazer schemes across the region to try to tackle the problem. The pilot aims to stop people aged 18 to 21 from falling out of the jobs market. Conservative Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said he was confident it would bring results. "The five million pounds will largely go towards paying for placements for young people who are not in education, skills or employment, who were much further away from the jobs market, that have other challenges to be able to get into work," he said. "Give them confidence and hopefully get them the skills and that means that we are tackling the issue of generational poverty." The North East Combined Authority is one of nine where a Trailblazer scheme would focus on the health impact of economic inactivity. Stephen Evans, from the Learning and Work Institute, hopes the programmes will help address the problems identified in the Youth Opportunity Index. "One of the really shocking findings that came through this research is that more than half of young people who are not in education, employment or training say they've never had a job at all," he said. "So we need to change that because they need the skills, but you also need to them gain the experience of work." Follow BBC North East on X, Facebook, Nextdoor and Instagram. Youth Opportunity Index 2025
Daily Mail
25-04-2025
- Business
- Daily Mail
Internet-obsessed and job-shy Gen Z 'refuse to work for less than £40k' as number of those out of work and education nears 1 million
Glued to their devices and unwilling to work for less than £40,000 a year, Generation Z is being shunted to the margins of society, an expert has warned. That was the message delivered to the Lords' social mobility policy committee by Graham Cowley, who works with young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEETs) in Blackpool. Cowley, who was giving evidence on the factors behind economic inactivity among young people, informed the committee of a recent conversation with a colleague who told him that 'kids [are] on the internet 24-hours a day, and they don't want to work for anything less than 40 grand'. When his remark was greeted with dismay by members of the committee, Cowley added: 'I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.' His remarks followed the publication earlier this month of research by the Learning and Work Institute that showed 13 per cent of all 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are not in education, employment or training. That number, backed by figures published this year by the Office for National Statistics, equates to almost one million young people - the highest level since 2013. Sir Keir Starmer has said the number of inactive young Britons is a 'moral issue', with the Prime Minister warning of a 'wasted generation'. Cowley's remarks will do little to allay those concerns, particularly with the British jobs market increasingly becalmed following Rachel Reeves's budget last October, which left employers with less cash to fund pay rises and take on new staff. The Learning and Work Institute found NEET rates were significantly higher in Wales (15 per cent) and the North East (16 per cent) compared with London (9 per cent) and the South East (10 per cent). Stephen Evans, the institute's chief executive, said the number of NEETs who have never had a paid job is 'really very stark and very worrying'. 'It's not a massive surprise for 16 year-olds,' said Evans of research suggesting that 58 per cent of NEETs have never been in paid employment. 'But the fact that you've got people heading into their mid-twenties and half of them have never had a proper job is quite shocking. 'It is going to have a long-term impact on their career prospects if we don't do something quite urgently.' Cowley called for a stronger emphasis on instilling the importance of a strong work ethic at a young age. 'There's something about what's going on in the minds of these young people,' he told the committee. 'I believe if we were able to get to them earlier and imbue them with a sense of, "You need to put a shift in, to get what you want in life" then I think there's a real value in doing that.' Lord Watts countered that it was natural for young people facing the prospect of earning low incomes to feel deflated and conclude it would be 'more comfortable to stay in the house than it is to go and try and find your way through life'. As part of Labour's bid to overhaul the welfare system, Liz Kendall, the work and pensions secretary, is planning a 'Youth Guarantee' for 18- to 21-year-olds. The initiative would require mayors and local authorities to ensure young people have access to an apprenticeship, training and education opportunities or assistance with finding a job. Those who refuse to take up work and training opportunities would lose their benefits, the government has warned.
Telegraph
07-04-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Gen Z needs to learn the valuable life lessons of having a job
A first job is rarely thrilling. From my late teens to early 20s , my experiences ranged from serving slices of ham in a supermarket, handing out club-night flyers on the street, spritz-ing perfume in a department store and working in a dreary office on an isolated business park. The jobs were a means to an end, paying for my travelling after university, a tacky sixth-form holiday, an extra £1 vodka Red Bull on a Thursday night out in Watford. But these jobs also came with important life lessons, and sometimes were even quite a lot of fun. There's a lot to be said for a humdrum job at the start of adulthood. For example, it's unlikely The Office sitcom would exist if Ricky Gervais hadn't drawn on his own memories of stale corporate life. But these experiences seem to be fading away. Three in five young people who are neither learning nor working have ever had a paid job, according to figures published last week by the Learning and Work Institute. Most of those not in education, employment or training (Neets) are also not even looking. As rates of mental ill-health and inactivity soar among young people, enough hasn't been said about the benefits of working a mundane job early in life. A screen-obsessed generation picking an idle life over work will look back with regret. Even if they don't realise it yet, avoiding adulthood means missing out not only on important interactions and opportunities but also on life's more uncomfortable-but-necessary moments, such as dealing with criticism. That's not to say that people should put up with nasty, unpleasant bosses picking on them, but that some constructive feedback and debate is part and parcel of working life. Bosses are getting frustrated with younger workers who they feel don't get it. Alex Mahon, the chief executive of Channel 4, said a few years ago that young people were coming into the workforce with no capacity for opinions that differ from their own. Former Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag claimed this year that modern footballers struggle to cope with criticism. 'The generation that I grew up in had much thicker skin. You could be much more direct,' he said. While it's no bad thing if old-school managers learn to use a little sugar-coating, there are limits. Not having a paid job until much later into adulthood (and not studying either) means that life can become an online echo chamber with no structure, and as we know, that bubble can quickly become a dangerous one. More than half of parents said their children would be happier if social media did not exist, according to research by More in Common and the New Britain Project for the National Education Union. As life becomes more inward and online, looking outward can look like a scarier and scarier prospect. Having skipped those banal early jobs and perhaps spent some time as a Neet, those who do enter the workforce later on can then show an intolerance to discomfort or difference. A London law firm that pays its graduates £180,000 a year recently advertised for a so-called support lawyer as it said Gen Z staff need 'more hand-holding' to get through the working day. Lawyers posting on legal blog RollOnFriday, which first reported the job advert, complained that Gen Z trainees were refusing to accept criticism and were complaining to HR when told they were wrong. I don't agree with the stereotype that Gen Z are a bunch of snowflakes – there are clearly mental health challenges affecting this age group, which have been fuelled not only by Covid but also the rise of social media. But among healthy young adults who are able to work but are not looking to do so, the benefits of a job have clearly been undersold. Meeting new people (which importantly includes ones who are not like-minded), gaining structure, learning from feedback, working out what you do or don't want to do in life – the list of benefits is endless and long-lasting. Yet there are countless studies explaining why Gen Z might want to snub the grind. Many will think why leave the house for some dreary shifts with a jobsworth boss, especially if saving feels pointless as a growing number give up on the prospect of home ownership. After all, just 10pc of British workers say they are actively engaged in work, according to a poll by Gallup – not exactly good PR for employment. Some of that disconnect will be down to a complete lack of career guidance. Research published by the London Interdisciplinary School last week found that 23pc of 18 to 24-year-olds do not believe that there is a degree suitable for their desired career, while 45pc of 25 to 34-year-old graduates said they felt shocked by their lack of readiness for real-life challenges once they started working. If more Neets took on odd jobs, they could figure out from an earlier age what it is they want from a career. Others might have watched parents or older siblings get dragged into a rat race that they simply don't fancy being part of. According to a survey by Santander UK, 76pc of those born after 1996 do not want to work for someone else. But all entrepreneurs need to learn from somewhere, and they certainly need to be able to take on criticism in order to master their craft. Work can be the ticket out for those who feel stuck in a rut, but accepting feedback and a bit of friction needs to be a part of that. A first job won't be a dream come true, but it's certainly not a young person's dream to feel trapped at home all day.
