01 Jun
WHAT ARE THE SOLUTIONS TO YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE UK?
According to the site Economics Help, youth unemployment in the UK was at 12% in 2017. This is for persons aged 16-25 years old. While this is a significant drop from 20% in 2012, it is still an unacceptable figure for a developed economy. This number counts people young people who are actively looking for work but cannot find it.
What causes youth unemployment?
- Lack of needed skills
More and more youthful members of the population do not have the skills that are needed in today’s increasingly global economy. A report done by the Centre for Cities found out that people with poor skills in math and English are unlikely to get a job. This is more so in jobs that require dealing with slightly technical work like drawing up reports.
- Over-qualification – This happens when graduate students find that the available jobs require relatively lower qualifications than they possess. Employers are often reluctant to take them as they are forced to pay higher wages.
- Real wage unemployment – Young workers face slow growth in wages. In 2017 the minimum wage was £5.60 for those aged 18-20 and £7.05 for those aged 21-24. These wages are below the national minimum wage of £7.50.
- Geographical unemployment – Youth in some regions face lower employment than in other areas. In the North East, the employment rate is 64% against 70% in the Northwest.
- Frictional unemployment – This happens when youth are idle in the transition between school and work
- Hysteresis – This is the phenomenon where unemployment causes further unemployment, for example, a person who fails an interview feeling demotivated to lock for another job.
What are the solutions to youth unemployment?
- Vocational training – hands-on skills are very effective in empowering NEET youth (Not in Employment, Education or Training). Short courses such as welding, motor engineering, and plumbing are effective in empowering lowly educated youth.
- Internship programs – Being on internship is very effective in giving a graduate on-the-job skills.
- Youth enterprise training and funding – A good number of young people would like to start enterprises but don’t know where to start or get funding. Youth enterprise training and funding programs teach the basics of business planning and running a business, and offer the initial capital to start these ventures
- Start-up Incubation/acceleration programs – Youth start-ups are faced with numerous challenges. Incubation/acceleration programs are targeted towards investing in these start-ups, providing workspaces, training, mentorship, and networking. These types of programs have proven very effective especially for tech-based start-ups.
Youth unemployment can be tackled with a multi-faceted approach involving empowering the youth with the skills needed for jobs as well as nurturing their entrepreneurial side.