Scaling the youth employment challenge
In this report we examine the extent to which UK employers are engaging in the types of activities identified in our report The Youth Employment Challenge, and some of the barriers to making them more widespread.
Scaling the youth employment challenge
(PDF, 1.6 Mb)
Published March 2013
In summer 2012 the UK Commission for Employment and Skills published The youth employment challenge. This set out the structural changes in the labour market that have made it increasingly difficult for young people to get into work and progress on a career path. It highlighted the importance of employer practice in tackling this challenge and called for UK employers to adopt a ‘youth policy’: to do something, no matter how small, to help young people get into work. This includes activities like opening up recruitment practices and offering work experience or apprenticeships.
In our latest report, Scaling the youth employment challenge, we examine the extent to which UK employers are engaging in these types of activities and some of the barriers to making them more widespread. There are many excellent examples, but there is scope to do much more. By taking some concerted steps towards greater and more ambitious employer ownership we could achieve a great deal. From the current baseline our aim should be to double the engagement of youth policy activity among UK employers, in particular with work experience and apprenticeships, where we have discovered untapped and future demand. If we can move the needle from one employer in four offering work experience to one in two, and boost apprenticeship participation from 15% of employers to 30% this would make a significant contribution to scaling the youth employment challenge.
