A Government review has found that the nearly one million young people out of work and education are costing the UK over £125 billion each year
The review by former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburm warns Britain faces a 25% rise in economically inactive young people absent urgent reform.
“This is not a failure of young people. It is a failure of a system stuck in the past.” says the report
“Whether it is education or health or welfare, that system fails to enable their participation in the labour market.”
Millburn projects NEET rates could rise from one in eight to one in six within five years. Six in 10 young people currently classified as NEET have never worked, up from four in 10 two decades ago.
The Report points to Britain’s jobs boom of recent decades largely passing young people by. It says entry level jobs have long been in sharp decline with 1.6 million fewer low and medium skilled jobs in the economy. Vacancies in hospitality have halved in the last four years alone. Saturday jobs have long been in freefall.
Apprenticeship starts among young people have fallen by 35% over the last decade and Hospitality job vacancies halved in four years; apprenticeship starts fell 35% in a decade.
The first rung of the career ladder has thinned. For too many young people it is now simply out of reach.” Says Milburn adding that many young people have been left in a “hopeless Catch-22” as businesses seek employment history but the opportunities for them to gain any work experience have declined or disappeared.
The report calls for a system reset from what Milburn describes as a Welfare State that is “exacerbating inactivity” to a Working State that “builds capability”, arguing that new programmes layered on top of a broken system cannot work.
Pat McFadden, Work and Pensions Secretary, who commissioned the report said:
“I commissioned this report because we cannot afford to lose a generation of young people, and I welcome Alan Milburn’s vital work which lays bare the scale of the challenge and the root causes of youth unemployment we now need to confront.
“We are already taking action by bringing forward the biggest youth employment reforms in a generation to create 500,000 opportunities for young people, including a Youth Jobs Grant for businesses starting next month, more apprenticeships, and subsidised employment to help young people get a foot on the ladder.
“Early intervention is also key, and that’s why we are supporting families with special educational needs, lifting over half a million children out of poverty, and improving vocational learning to give every young person the best start in life.
“But we know there is more to do. I will work across government and with employers, charities and young people to drive real change, so more young people are earning or learning, not left behind. I look forward to working with Alan as he brings forward his final recommendations later this year.”
