Let’s get 1M young people back into work

1. Employment statistics

For the first time since 1992 the numbers of young people out of work topped the 1 million mark as unemployment hit a 17 year high of 2.62 million. This means that young people are, as expected, suffering the brunt of the slow economy, with one in five young people now out of work.

With businesses, contractors and professional firms doing their best to hang on to their existing staff and not make redundancies, they’re failing to create new entry level jobs for young adults entering the jobs market. For young people this means finding work or learning a trade is harder than ever.

2. Forecasts predict low growth

British industry also expects growth to be slow over the next year and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) predicts grindingly slow growth at less than 1 per cent for most of the next year. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) have also reported that high street sales fell compared to figures from a year ago and this sector is shedding jobs rapidly.

Slow growth and a weak retail sector are bad news for everyone but especially young people. Many young people get their first taste of employment in the retail sector and the contraction of this sector coupled with slow growth in the economy overall are likely to spell more youth unemployment over the coming months.

3. What’s the government doing?

Government have set aside some funding for specific youth unemployment initiatives, but see the task ahead as a partnership with industry. They are working with industry to support young people getting the skills, experience and on the job training they need for future employment. These government efforts mostly address youth unemployment focus on vocational training, apprenticeships, work placements and efforts to meet the needs of young people not in education or employment through an innovation fund and changes in Jobcentre services for young people. However, this leaves many recent graduates, young people who’ve not been out of work long and those still engaged in training or education without formal support or schemes to get them into work.

What can business and industry do?

Government initiatives will take a while to have an impact – some of their programmes don’t even start until 2012. Business and industry has a really important role to play in making sure they create opportunities for young people to work, have work experience or benefit from an apprenticeships scheme or other scheme targeted at training and employing young people in your business. There are a number of things you can do as an employe, this article highlights some of the ways you can help create opportunities.

4. Apprenticeships What are apprenticeships?

Apprenticeships are work-based training programmes designed around the needs of employers, which lead to national recognised qualifications. Apprenticeships can be used to train both new and existing employees and they aren’t restricted to manufacturing or trades, they include all employers from service industries to technology.

As employees, apprentices earn a wage and work alongside experienced staff to gain job-specific skills. Off the job, usually on a day-release basis, apprentices receive training to work towards nationally recognised qualifications; this training element can be paid for by the government. Apprenticeships are extremely highly sought after by young people and there’s usually a great deal of competition for them.

Create an opportunity, find an apprentice

If you are an employer and interested in taking on an apprentice contact the government agency, in England contact Apprenticeships and make sure you take a look at the information on their ambassador’s network pages, which contain case studies and information on business gains.

In Wales the Wales Government apprenticeship scheme and in Scotland Apprenticeship Scotland have all the details. There are many specialist industry skills councils who manage apprenticeships, promoting your opportunity and finding candidates then securing funding for training. Yu can find the skills council for your industry by checking the directory at the Alliance of Sector Skills Councils, in construction contact the Construction Skills.  For technology and digital businesses contact e-skills 

Benefits for employers A recent study by the University of Warwick looked at what the benefits for a business taking on an apprentice were. Benefits reported by businesses included:

1. Apprenticeships secure a supply of people with the skills and qualities needed by the business but are often not available on the external job market;

2. Apprenticeships help secure a supply of skilled young recruits - especially important for the replacement of an ageing workforce;

3. Apprenticeships are less expensive to recruit and train than experienced workers hired on the external labour market

4. Apprenticeships contribute to a pool of skilled and certificated employees for the sector to recruit from in the future;

5. Apprenticeships ensure the supply-chain (i.e. sub-contractors) have a sufficiently skilled workforce;

6. Apprentices tend to stay with the organisation and labour turnover is lower;

7. Apprentices provide a cadre of employees from which to future managers could be selected;

8. Apprenticeship training may increase interest in training amongst other employees;

9. Apprenticeships demonstrate company's commitment to the employee;

10. Apprenticeships are more practical and job-related than other forms of learning;

11. Apprentices can bring new ideas and innovation to the business;

12. A good Apprenticeship scheme can be reflected in an enhanced reputation for the business both within the industry and in the local community.

Edited extract from: The Net Benefit to Employer Investment in Apprenticeship Training, A Report for the Apprenticeship Ambassadors Network by Chris Hasluck, Terence Hogarth, Beate Baldauf and Geoff Briscoe, November 2008, University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research.

Apprentice awards

Governments and training agencies in England,  Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland all run national award schemes for both employers and their apprentices. These awards have considerable status and attract substantial media coverage. They offer a welcome additional soft incentive to employers wanting to make a difference with young people in the workplace.

5. Work experience

Many young people have never worked. Getting experience in the workplace, understanding business, seeing how businesses, contractors and professionals operate is really important for young people to build confidence and make choices about their future. Here are a few pointers on how to publicise your work placements so that a young person looking for work might find them or find graduates through sponsored schemes. You can advertise your job or work placement with Jobseekers this will give young people currently out of work the best chance of finding you and you can advertise work experience, placements and volunteer opportunities as well as paid work.

Young people can also find out about work placements on the Direct Gov website which gives full details of work experience for young people, links through to the jobseeker employment pages, as well as links to sites for graduate opportunities and internships. If you are looking to recruit a recent graduate then you may want to advertise through the National Council for Work Experience who have a magazine for graduates advertising placements in industry.

Similar schemes in Wales, Go Wales, offer funded placements for graduates and the process of creating a placement as well as finding one is extremely easy, payments are quick and easy and the scheme has achieved great success in matching young people with opportunities. Talent Scotland manages graduate training and placement opportunities north of the border. For all graduate, work placement and job opportunities in Northern Ireland see their comprehensive Northern Ireland recruitment site 

6. Other government schemes

Announced just prior to the Autumn Statement on 29th November, the government is supporting employers taking on 18-24 year olds from the Work Programme, by offering job subsidies that cover more than the cost of their national insurance payments. These subsidies form part of a new ‘Youth Contract’ in England which includes for support for greater numbers of apprenticeships and work placements as well as the subsidy. The wage incentives will be available for three years and will begin in 2012.

7. What can you do?

The Recruitment industry are switched right on to the problem of youth unemployment and their industry body, the Recruitment and Employment Confederation have Practical recommendations include revamping careers services, stimulating demand for new staff, raising awareness of the changing employment landscape and harnessing different routes into work such internships and temporary assignments. And the REC have also published a Youth Employment Charter and invite all businesses and recruiters to sign up.

Use your business sense and imagination

Not all solutions have to come from government. Young people at the beginning of their careers offer a tremendous opportunity to recruit and train staff that can deliver value to your business and help you grow. Young people know the market is highly competitive and want to gain experience. If you can create opportunities that offer training, skills and the chance of career advancement while promoting your business aims, then you can help young people avoid getting into the rut of long term unemployment.The jobs market is highly competitive and it’s possible that if you can offer pay that’s better than the alternative of being out of work, you will be able to find talented youngsters to help take your business forward.

At Constructaquote we’ve created 50 new jobs on a performance payment model to help get young people into jobs that offer good career prospects and training. Even if you’re a small employer you may be able to make space for a young person, through work experience, part time work, or payment by results it’s up to all of us to use our business sense and harness the talents of this generation young people to build a stronger economy. Useful contacts Apprenticeships, Alliance of Sector Skills Councils,  National Council for Work Experience, Graduate placements in Wales, Go Wales Graduate placements in Scotland, Talent Scotland,