An age of uncertainty – EY Foundation

This report provides powerful insights into the views of today’s 16-21-year-olds on work and their future careers: it is a candid snapshot of the experiences they have had in the workplace and of their hopes and fears for the future, in an age of uncertainty.

1. Young people need more experiences of work and chances to develop key skills.

• While most young people have had some experience of work, 56% think it’s difficult to get the sort of experience needed to get a job they want. 88% call on employers to offer more work experience.
• It appears that work experience through schools is becoming rarer, having been made non-compulsory – only 51% of 16-18-year-olds say their school offers work experience, compared to 64% of those now aged 19-21. This is concerning for all young people’s work prospects, but it is particularly bad for those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

2. Young people want to be the leaders and managers of tomorrow.

• Nearly two-thirds of young people (63%) are interested in leading a team, 40% would like to become the boss of a company and 37% are attracted to the idea of starting their own business.

3. The career choices that young people make are being influenced by parents/carers and teachers.

• Parents/carers are by far the most common sources of advice on jobs and careers, with employers much less prominent: only 56% of young people say that employers have come into their school to talk about opportunities.

• The advice available appears to favour traditional academic routes. Young people are almost twice as likely to receive information about going to university, than about taking apprenticeships – 86% as opposed to 48%. This may mean they miss out on new opportunities that combine the best of both paths, like the new degree apprenticeships.

4. A lack of knowledge about the jobs market risks undermining young people’s ambitions. This is worse in some regions and for young people from poorer backgrounds.

• One in three (32%) don’t feel confident about getting a job in the next couple of years.

• 35% of young people do not know about employers and jobs in their local area and, perhaps as a result, 31% don’t think they can find a job (or a new job) in the area they live.

What do we need to do to address this?

We believe there is an urgent need to come up with collaborative solutions that bring employers, schools /colleges and government together, and involving parents/carers far more, to better support young people into work and the jobs they want to do. Young people should be directly involved in shaping, designing and testing those solutions.

The national curriculum is the best means to ensure that every young person in the UK gets the right support to ensure they have the best working prospects. To make this a reality we believe that a new 11-18 school-to- work syllabus needs to be created, to be designed and delivered through the national curriculum by employers and schools/colleges together, and accredited with leading bodies such as CMI. This sits at the core of our recommendations.