Data revealed that the unemployment rate among young people between 16 and 24 is at its highest since the pandemic; the figure went up almost 50% within two years.
Unions cautioned that “young people’s futures are on the line” as unemployment among the youth has risen to a post-pandemic high amidst an extensive struggle to find a job.
Figures from official sources show that youth employment has reached its highest level in over three years; according to data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS), over 597,000 young people between the ages of 16 and 24 were without jobs from May to July.
The unemployment rate for young people between the ages of 18 and 24 increased to 13.3% from 12.3% from January to March. The rate for the youngest unemployed between the ages of 16 and 24 was 14.2%.
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Paul Nowak, the general secretary of the TUC, described the increase as a “toxic Tory legacy” that demonstrated how young people were not considered by employers and the government.
University graduates have to work minimum wage due to the difficulty of landing a first job, which they described as “hostile and impersonal.”
The Office for National Statistics figures show a recent trend of employers opting for older employees. Between August 2023 and August 2024, 127,000 pay-rolled workers under the age of 25 decreased. During the same period, the number of pay-rolled workers between the ages of 35 and 49 increased by 114,000. The average unemployment rate from April to July was 4.1%.
Nowak stated: “Working people are still facing significant problems left behind by the Conservatives. Vacancies have been falling for more than two years. Millions of workers are in insecure jobs and without proper employment rights. And young people’s futures are on the line as youth unemployment rises.
“Most employers support the new government’s plans to make work pay and strengthen workers’ rights. It’s time to move on from the low-pay, low-rights approach that has failed so many people so badly.”
According to the House of Commons Library report, youth unemployment was “still at a historically low level.” From May to July 2022, youth unemployment dropped to 406,000, the lowest record since 1992. Since then, it has risen by almost 50%.
James Cockett, a Chartered Institute of Personal and Development’s senior labour market economist, stated that intentions to improve rights for young employees might include discouraging companies from hiring by increasing the minimum wage to the standard wage.
“It’s important proposed changes to strengthen employment rights are subject to proper consultation, to ensure they don’t add to the cost or risk employers face in employing staff as this could deter firms from recruiting young people who typically require more development.”
He added that young people need more support. “The government needs to go further than its proposed youth guarantee for 18- —to 21-year-olds.
“There is a strong case for the introduction of an apprenticeship guarantee to provide a guaranteed level 2 or 3 apprenticeship for 16- to 24-year-olds. This would help address the collapse in apprenticeship provision among young people in recent years and provide more routes into work.”
The government stated that it wants to increase employment from 74.8% to 80% to increase the number of people in work.
Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation think tank at Lancaster University, stated that it is likely hard to accomplish. At the same time, 2.79 million working-age people “remain sidelined from the workforce due to long-term sickness.”
Harrison states the government’s intentions “require a rewiring of the welfare offer by overhauling the punitive culture of Job centres, improving public services and creating new relationships with local leaders to open up opportunities”.
