The latest youth unemployment figures from the ONS make for uneasy reading. They’re not pretty, and paint a bleak picture of the future for the Class of 2020. With unemployment for young people now standing at 14.2%, and a staggering proportion of this generation on Universal Credit, it’s clear that we’re standing on the brink of an unemployment crisis.
If left unsupported, this new crop of job seekers is at risk of becoming the lost Coronavirus generation. The solution lies in what we can do together.
The Government has taken some action already. It’s sought to help address unemployment through a slate of fully-funded skills and placement schemes. Kickstart, digital bootcamps and The Skills Toolkit are helping those who have become jobless to reskill, retrain and push forward their careers, and the Government’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee is a major boost for those entering the workforce through non-degree routes.
The tech sector, like other UK industries, must also step up and do its part. We must create opportunities for these young people to build up new skills – but it’s important to remember that we can also benefit. Tech firms across the country need talent to drive growth over the coming years – and here sits a pool of it, ready to help us do exactly that. Rather than pitying the luck laid upon our youngest job seekers, we can attract a new generation of diverse, talented young people through our doors.
We’ve been striving to do just that. Through the Kickstart scheme we’ve created over 250 roles in tech, partnering with some of the biggest names including Bulb, allplants, The Plum Guide and Bloomberg, to offer Britain’s young people jobs, and provide them with the training they need to succeed from the moment they start.
The young people we’re meeting are aspirational and want to progress, but have been severely affected by the pandemic. They’re striving for permanent employment in the tech sector from this scheme – either with their host company or by leveraging the experience they’ve gained. Some of the brightest, most promising candidates, have the potential to become changemakers in the industry. It’s up to us to give them that chance.
In turn, the employers we’re working with are seeing the benefits of supporting these schemes in real time. They have bright and enthused young talent joining them, ready to hit the ground running and add real value to their businesses across a range of roles.
The tech industry has an opportunity to step up to the plate and help bolster the UK economy by creating new pathways for thousands of young people – many of whom may not have previously considered it. The Government has taken action, now we must look to finish it.
