New IPPR ‘local youth opportunity index’ reveals sixfold gap in job vacancies across Britain fuelling NEET crisis
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Young people in Rotherham have just 46 vacancies for
every 1,000 young adults, compared with 288
in the Cotswolds Nine of the 10 best areas for
youth job opportunities are in the South of England IPPR
calls for a single-rate youth allowance for Universal Credit
claimants, removing perverse incentives that can discourage moves
into work A stark new Local Youth Opportunity Index
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A stark new Local Youth Opportunity Index from IPPR reveals a six-fold divide in the availability of suitable jobs for young people depending on where they live, as the think tank warns that Britain cannot solve its NEET crisis without creating opportunities in the places that lack them. The new analysis which measures the number of suitable online vacancies relative to the number of 18 to 24-year olds in a local labour market finds that there is around one suitable vacancy for every 22 young people in places like Rotherham, compared with one for every four young people in the Cotswolds. Of local authorities with available data, nine of the 10 with the highest number of suitable vacancies per young adults are in the South, while four of the worst areas are in the Midlands, with the rest in Yorkshire, Scotland, Wales, and the East of England. The findings underline that becoming NEET is not simply a question of an individual's qualifications or willingness to look for work with young people facing an unemployment rate more than three times that of the wider workforce. The report also identifies a major failure to use apprenticeships consistently as a route into skilled work. IPPR analysis shows apprenticeship provision is highly uneven between sectors relative to the size of their workforces, with health and social work among the sectors offering the most apprenticeships, while sectors like arts and entertainment lag far behind. The think tank calculates that even halving the gap between the highest and lowest performing sectors would generate around 110,000 more apprentices every year. The authors warn the government that the employment-support system is failing to reach a large part of the population it is supposed to help. Jobcentre Plus is principally organised around people receiving Universal Credit, yet around half of young people who are NEET do not receive it. For those that do claim, the system remains too focused on compliance and work-search requirements. Among Universal Credit claimants in the searching-for-work group, the youngest claimants are almost five times as likely to be sanctioned as the oldest, highlighting how strongly young people are exposed to the system's conditionality and enforcement regime. To tackle the NEET crisis, IPPR is calling on the government and the Milburn Review to act on three fronts with a New Youth Contract:
Lord David Blunkett, former secretary of state for education and employment, said: "I was 16, with no qualifications, little knowledge about further education but with a burning ambition to be independent and fend for myself. Born without sight and brought up on a council estate in Sheffield, my route forward was neither straightforward nor assured. I know, therefore, something of what it means to stand at the threshold of adult life without a clear path ahead. "Young people have an immense amount to give. With national ambition, local leadership and the willingness to invest, we can ensure that birthplace does not determine a young person's future. We can renew the promise that should lie at the heart of any decent society: that no young person will be discarded, that the door to opportunity will remain open, and that everyone will have the chance to build a life of purpose." Lord Jim Knight, former minister for employment and minister for schools, said: IPPR's report dispels the myth that nearly a million young people are out of work because they lack aspiration. Young people in Rotherham are not six times less talented than those in the Cotswolds; they face six times fewer suitable vacancies. Leaving young people in certain regions with the fewest opporunities on the economic scrapheap would be both a moral tragedy and far more costly in the long run. That's why IPPR's Work Start proposal is vital: it would give young people their first step in places where opportunities are scarce. As Employment Minister in Gordon Brown's government, I saw through the Future Jobs Fund that proved work placements work. They allow young people to contribute while gaining the experience employers demand, and result in more young people finding lasting work." Avnee Morjaria, associate director at IPPR, said: Young people need a route into adulthood, not a maze of disconnected schemes and services. The Milburn Review is a chance to fundamentally reset our approach: creating real opportunities, opening up high-quality apprenticeships, and giving every young person access to a trusted adviser and the financial security they need to take the next step. A young person's postcode or circumstances should not decide whether they get the chance to build a working life. Henry Parkes, principal economist at IPPR, said: Too much of the debate about youth unemployment starts from the assumption that the problem lies with the young person. Our local data shows just how wrong that is. There is a more than six-fold gap in the availability of suitable vacancies depending on where you live. You cannot solve a shortage of opportunity simply by asking young people to search harder. We need to create the first rung of the employment ladder in places where it is missing and rebuild apprenticeships so that every sector is playing its part in giving the next generation a route into good work. Susannah Hardyman, CEO of Impetus, said: "Where a young person grows up should not determine their chances of finding work. These findings are deeply worrying because we know that where someone lives compounds the risk of being NEET for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are already twice as likely to be out of education, training or employment as their better-off peers. "Young people, no matter what their background, deserve opportunities to build fulfilling lives, so cost-effective solutions designed around those most likely to be left behind are vital." Gina Cicerone, CEO of the Fair Education Alliance, said: This is an important report with recommendations that could make a real difference to young people, particularly those from low-income backgrounds who are more likely to face barriers to finding and sustaining work, including financial insecurity, fragmented support, and limited access to the opportunities and networks that help people get into work. "A youth employment system built around personalised support, trusted relationships and greater financial security could help change that. Giving every young person a dedicated adviser, joining up employment, health and skills support, and working more closely with employers could give many more young people the confidence, stability and opportunities they need to move into good, sustained employment. ENDS NOTES TO EDITORS
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