Urgent action needed to tackle and prevent youth unemployment
Friday 26 November 2021
Reforms to Further Education funding, the apprenticeship levy, the skills system, careers guidance and the national curriculum are urgently needed to tackle the problem of youth unemployment, according to the House of Lords Youth Unemployment Committee.
Published today, the cross-party Committee’s report, ‘Skills for every young person’, also recommends a new Education and Workplace Race Equality Strategy to tackle discrimination, a new strategy to tackle skills gaps, and a new, independent Young People's Commissioner to champion the voice of those aged 16 to 24.
Lord Shipley, Chair of the Youth Unemployment Committee, said:
“Youth unemployment has blighted our society for decades and its impact can endure for years. At 11.7%, the UK’s youth unemployment rate continues to be worse than many other countries, and today more than one in eight (12.6%) of our under 25s are neither working nor in full-time study.
“Over 10 months, we spoke to young people with experience of unemployment, employers, school leaders and experts. Our report makes over 70 recommendations which would help to tackle youth unemployment. We urge the government to act.”
COVID-19 was a perfect storm for youth unemployment. 70% of employee job losses were amongst under-25s. At its height, unemployment rates reached nearly 15%, and some groups were hit even worse, with the rate for young black people skyrocketing to over 40%. In March it was predicted that the economic and fiscal costs of youth unemployment could reach £10 billion in 2022.
Today, 631,000 (9.3%) young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET) and 475,000 (7%) are unemployed. 21.8% (141,000) of 18-year-olds are neither in full-time education nor work with training.
The Committee’s key findings and recommendations include:
• There are skills gaps and shortages in a variety of existing and emerging sectors, damaging productivity. The Government must develop a long-term national plan for identifying, anticipating, measuring and addressing skills gaps and shortages with a focus on the needs of the digital and green economy. To ensure young people are equipped with the essential knowledge and the technical, cultural and creative skills the economy demands, the Government must recalibrate the compulsory components of the national curriculum and performance measures, putting skills development at the centre.
• Access to high quality careers education, information, advice and guidance (CEIAG) enables young people to understand all the possible careers and routes open to them. The Government must make CEIAG a compulsory element of the curriculum in all schools from Key Stage 1 to 4 alongside religious education, and sex and relationships education, as part of a Career Guidance Guarantee.
• Further Education has been undervalued and significantly underfunded. The Government must devise a new method of funding for FE, determined by student demand, and students accessing the Lifetime Skills Guarantee at levels 2 and 3 should attract automatic in-year funding determined by a tariff. This would ensure the availability of places, and result in extra funding so that institutions can recruit high quality teachers and obtain the latest industry-standard equipment.
• Apprenticeships are in short supply, and current funding mechanisms tend to benefit older, more experienced workers. The Government must require that any employer receiving funding from the apprenticeship levy must spend at least two thirds of that funding on people who begin apprenticeships at levels 2 and 3 before the age of 25.
• Some groups of young people face additional barriers to work, including Black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) groups, those disadvantaged by socio-economic background, and those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The Government must launch an Education and Workplace Race Equality Strategy, focussing on removing barriers including mandating regular collection of data. It must ensure every disadvantaged young person has access to tailored careers guidance.
• While the Government has introduced measures including Kickstart, Careers Hubs and Youth Hubs, youth unemployment policy is created in silos, resulting in a confusing landscape of initiatives and a lack of accountability at the top. The Government must appoint an independent Young People's Commissioner to be the voice of youth aged 16 to 24.
The report will be available on the committee's website shortly after publication.
