London can’t leave young people behind
David Johnston from The Lord Mayor’s Appeal on why tackling the NEET crisis is vital to London’s economy
It is striking just how many people I talk to in the City who personally know a young person who is not in education, employment or training (NEET). Sometimes it’s their friend’s child or one of their nieces or nephews. Sometimes it’s their own son or daughter. They all instinctively get why the Lord Mayor’s Appeal is making these young people its sole focus for at least the next 3 years.
We currently have 1 million 16–25-year-olds in the UK who are NEET. Their situations vary widely, from people who may not have any GCSEs to people who are university graduates. The problem disproportionately affects young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, those with special educational needs or those who have experience of the care system – but the young people affected are from all walks of life.
Being unemployed when you’re young can have long-term scarring effects. It increases the chances you’ll be unemployed again in later life and it decreases your lifetime earnings. It’s a tragic misuse of the potential of the next generation.
There are things the Government can change about the education and welfare systems or the cost of hiring young people. But no Government action can solve this problem. Everyone has a role to play.
It’s true that schools could do more to prepare young people for the world of work. But it’s also true that a series of changes have taken place in the world of work that has made it harder for young people.
The Saturday job has been in long-term decline: in 1996 42% of 16/17 year olds had a part-time job, whereas by 2014 only 18% did. In the post-Covid world of widespread hybrid working, face to face work experience is often neglected by employers in favour of online experiences, which have a place but which do not develop confidence or skills in the same way.
Visit many retailers and you’ll notice a shift in the age profile of their staff to older workers. We’ve yet to see AI really kick in but we can already see the decline in entry-level roles and fewer roles for graduates, with 50% fewer graduate vacancies advertised this year than last.
All of this matters to the Square Mile. As the economic powerhouse of the country, it is vital for the City that London’s economic potential is fulfilled. This can’t happen if we have retirements at one end of career cycle creating vacancies and skills shortages and, at the other end, a significant proportion of people not entering the workforce at all.
The Lord Mayor’s Appeal is using the convening power of the Lady or Lord Mayor to galvanise businesses, livery companies, philanthropists and policy makers to work together and tackle this problem.
Together, we can give young Londoners the confidence, skills and experience they need to obtain meaningful training and employment opportunities across the capital, which will be good for them and good for the country as a whole.
If you want to join us in the mission, do please get in touch via [email protected] or via www.thelordmayorsappeal.org