Lizzie Crowley, head of youth unemployment programmes at the Work Foundation, said there was a need to join up policy on a local level in order to maximise career and progression pathways, adding that this was particularly important for the cohort not in employment, education or training (NEETs).
She explained that 50 per cent of NEETs had never had a paid job, and therefore there was a pressing need for young people to engage with the world of work through practical experience and work visits.
Jenny North, director of policy and strategy at Impetus - The Private Equity Foundation, explained the partnership between Equity and the Work Foundation to get young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into training.
All labour markets worked on the basis on supply and demand, she explained, stressing how important it was to get young people ready for work as the current situation “looked bleak” for the future; much work was needed to “future proof” the UK economy.
North said the “soft skills” that employers demanded such as self-awareness and resilience were not often present in those either in and out of employment, and she described the current economy as increasingly hollowed out due to technical advances.
North referenced an OECD report which found that the UK had a relatively high proportion of young people who were underemployed, in part due to the “hour glass economy” she had described.
In order to ensure a well skilled and successful local work force, stakeholders in the local labour market including employers should be working with local schools with businesses visiting schools, she thought.
David Rogers, UK futures, Deloitte explained how his organisation spanned a huge number of areas and projects outside the obvious remit, but was ultimately a “human capital business” that relied on having a pipeline of highly talented people.
1,400 graduates were recruited by Deloitte in the previous year, he said, and he explained that although the organisation was a big recruiter of graduates, it was diversifying to ensure young people with potential from a range of educational backgrounds were being given opportunities.
Rogers explained that Deloitte worked closely with Teach First and placed its staff in 11 particularly challenging schools. This was an example of the creativity which could be used to upskill and inspire young people he said, also citing the Wild Hearts programme.
He then spoke about the “business-employer ecosystem”, explaining that the machinery was in place to maximise interactions with young people, but small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) were rarely involved.
The issue of how to measure success was raised by Rogers who explained the need to quantify success and share best practice amongst businesses. Helping to reduce youth unemployment was an issue of recruitment as well as corporate social responsibility, he added.
Lord Holmes, a member of the digital skills select committee, spoke about how youth unemployment had fallen over the past couple of years, but acknowledged that each individual case of a young person being unemployed “was tragic”.
There was a big role for local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) to make the right connections between educators, young people and employers, he thought.
Apprenticeships should return to their original state in terms of being thorough and respected, he argued, whilst stressing that the 48 schemes for getting young people into work should be reduced in number and increased in quality.
As a member of the House of Lords select committee on digital skills, Lord Holmes spoke about his concerns around the fact that 47 per cent of jobs were in danger of automation and the consequences of this on the labour market.
Question and answer session
David Hughes, chief executive, NIACE, spoke about the need to “unpack” the NEET cohort and target specific groups within it, for example young carers.
Crowley responded by saying 10 per cent of those with similar characteristics within the NEET group had been “regularly failed by successive governments” and agreed that young carers fell into that category.
She said it was not the role of businesses to take on those who were so far from the labour market, which the panel agreed with.
Rogers said that measures to combat the lack of co-ordination in the sector were welcome, and agreed with the idea that there could be a role for an agent to smooth the process. This could potentially be the Government, he added.
North urged caution about any involvement by the JobCentre Plus, saying that although they could be involved in giving careers advice in schools, work was needed to ensure quality and not to “trash the coaching brand”.