Youth unemployment in Britain expected to reach the 1 million mark
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Youth unemployment in Britain will reach the 1 million mark over the coming year unless the government provides job guarantees or incentives for school leavers and graduates to stay on in education, a thinktank warns.
The Resolution Foundation (RF) said that in the absence of action an extra 600,000 people under the age of 25 would swell dole queues, with a risk of long-term damage to their career and pay prospects.
The thinktank’s report said the “corona class of 2020” – the 800,000 school leavers and graduates due shortly to join the labour market – was the most exposed age group to the likely unemployment surge caused by the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that 408,000 people in the 18-24 age group were unemployed.
The thinktank said the crisis posed particular problems for young people. Ministers needed to respond with the offer of guaranteed jobs, focusing apprenticeship opportunities on young workers and introducing new maintenance grants to encourage the under 25s to extend their education by a year.
The RF said a short-term lack of job opportunities would lead to long-term scarring of young people. Its report said employment rates of graduates entering the labour market during this crisis were projected to be 13% lower in three years’ time than they would have been had the crisis never happened.
Employment rates for mid- and low-skilled workers risked falling even further (by 27% and 37% respectively).
Those who found work would be earning low wages, the RF said. A year after leaving education the pay of graduates is projected to be 7% lower, and 9% and 19% lower for mid- and low-skilled workers.
