More than a million young people in the UK are not in employment, education or training – the highest level in over 12 years – prompting Marks & Spencer to launch a new paid training scheme for 1,000 16- to 24-year-olds. The retail giant said the programme, which will run across the UK and Ireland over the next 18 months, is designed to tackle what it called the “growing youth unemployment challenge”.
Latest official figures show roughly one in eight young people are now Neets, a crisis that a key review warned could worsen. The review, led by former minister Alan Milburn, said that if action was not taken, one in six young people would be Neet within five years. It found job and career opportunities for those hoping to enter employment were “not growing, they’re shrinking”. Milburn warned of a potential “lost generation”.
“M&S launches 1,000-place traineeship for 16-24 year olds as Neet numbers exceed a million, highest in 12 years.”
The review pointed to multiple factors behind the crisis, including the Covid-19 pandemic, smartphones, health issues and a sharp drop in the number of entry-level positions. High Street retailers and hospitality businesses such as restaurants, cafes and pubs have traditionally provided many young people with their first experience of work.
M&S said its new scheme offers six months of training, with successful participants then receiving further training to become a store manager. No degree is required to be eligible. Thinus Keeve, M&S retail director, said: “We want more young people to see retail not just as a first job, but as a career with real opportunity, real responsibility and real progression… This programme is about opening doors for the next generation and giving talented young people the chance to thrive.”
Over the weekend, the government announced a partnership with industry and trade unions to examine how artificial intelligence affects entry-level roles. It will look at how these jobs are changing and give businesses advice on redesigning roles while maintaining routes into the workforce. Separately, 400,000 students in disadvantaged schools in the UK will receive AI and tech training to help them into further education, training and employment.
Darren Hardman, chief executive of Microsoft in the UK and Ireland, told the BBC’s Today programme that the government needed to focus on building the “AI fluency of their people”. He warned there was a risk of leaving people behind if the UK did not prioritise speeding up in the AI tech race. “The risk that, if we don’t drive a skilling agenda… that really thinks about social mobility, then we do risk leaving people behind. We know that talent is everywhere in this country, but opportunity is not,” he said.