Youth unemployment soars to 11 year high, highlighting the need for continued support measures, says the CIPD

Responding to today’s ONS labour market figures, James Cockett, senior labour market economist for the CIPD, the professional body for HR and people development, comments:

“Unemployment among 18-24-year-olds, has hit its highest rate since 2015 as the jobs market becomes increasingly challenging for young people. Nearly 600,000 18–24-year-olds are out of work but looking for work, a huge waste of their potential. This is ahead of the significant uplift to the youth minimum wage rates, coming into effect in just two weeks’ time, further raising the costs of employing young people. 

“At the CIPD, we welcome the Government’s renewed focus on tackling youth unemployment by supporting more young people into work, particularly through new incentives to help employers of all sizes create entry-level jobs and apprenticeships, announced earlier this week. Many of these measures reflect changes we have been calling for, including stronger support for employers to create high-quality opportunities and more flexible routes into work for young people. 

“The Government should ensure that the process for claiming these incentives are simple and clearly communicated, particularly to small and medium sized businesses, which will result in a higher uptake. 

“We also support the new remit given to the Low Pay Commission by the Government, which means they have the full flexibility to determine the timing of the alignment between the National Minimum Wage for people aged 18 to 20 years old with the National Living Wage, with 'priority being given to the employment prospects of younger workers.'

“While these are positive steps towards tacking youth unemployment, today’s ONS figures still paint a dismal picture of the current challenges, highlighting the need not just for more entry level jobs but a firm foundation of training and skills development. To address this, we would still like to see young people and employers benefit from an apprenticeship guarantee that would apply to all 16-24-year-olds in the UK that meet minimum requirements. Such a move is overwhelmingly supported by employers and will help young people start working life in a meaningful way, while building a strong pipeline of skilled talent in the UK.”