More than a million young people in the UK are not in employment, education or training – the highest level in over 12 years, equating to roughly one in eight. Now, Marks and Spencer is launching a paid training scheme to create 1,000 places for 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK and Ireland over the next 18 months, aiming to tackle what the retailer calls the “growing youth unemployment challenge”.
The scheme offers six months of training, with successful participants then receiving further training to become a store manager, and does not require a degree. Thinus Keeve, retail director at M&S, 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.”
“M&S launches 1,000-place traineeship as youth unemployment hits highest level in 12 years.”
The move comes after a key review by former minister Alan Milburn warned that without action, one in six young people would be NEET within five years. The review found that job and career opportunities for those hoping to enter employment were “not growing, they’re shrinking”, citing the Covid-19 pandemic, smartphones, health issues and a sharp drop in entry-level positions. Milburn warned of a potential “lost generation”.
Retail bosses, including a group of supermarket and high street chiefs, are now calling on Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to set out urgent measures to tackle youth unemployment, warning that the “ladder of opportunity for young people is wobbling”. High street retailers and hospitality businesses such as restaurants, cafes and pubs often offer the first experience of work for many, and the chiefs want to safeguard retail’s position as a key entry point into the workforce.
Over the weekend, the government announced a partnership with industry and trade unions to examine how artificial intelligence affects entry-level roles, and said 400,000 students in disadvantaged schools would get AI and tech training. Darren Hardman, chief executive for Microsoft in the UK and Ireland, told the BBC’s Today programme that the government needed to focus on building “AI fluency” to avoid leaving people behind. “We know that talent is everywhere in this country, but opportunity is not,” he said, adding that the UK’s performance in taking up and diffusing AI was a concern.
With entry-level jobs shrinking and AI reshaping the labour market, the question remains whether programmes like M&S’s will be enough to steady what many see as a wobbling ladder for young people.