A sharp decline in opportunities for young workers to earn as they learn over the past 20 years is a key reason half of employers say workers aged 16-24 are ill-prepared for work.
Research by the CIPD revealed that just 28 percent of employers who have recruited someone aged 16-24 in the past 12 months think that young people are well-prepared for work.
Fifty-two 52 percent do not think that young people are generally well-prepared for the world of work, while 64 percent say young people “often lack important social skills in the workplace”. Almost three quarters (71 percent) say younger employees “don’t always know how to behave in the workplace”.
Further findings revealed that 56 percent say young workers are “more difficult to manage than previous generations” and 34 percent report that young people are not generally good communicators at work.
The findings, outlined in the report ‘Changing face of the youth labour market’, said that a main reason behind employers’ negative perception of young people is a sharp decline in opportunities to earn as you learn.
The CIPD has urged the UK government to introduce an ‘apprenticeship guarantee’ for all 16-24 year olds. Previous research from the employer body found that nearly 90 percent of employers would back such a guarantee.
By combining earning and learning, young people have the opportunity to build key skills such as communication, teamwork and problem solving. It can also offer a vocational route into employment.
While there has been a strong policy focus on apprenticeships in the past 10 years, just 6 percent of 16-24 year-olds are in an apprenticeship, the same figure as 20 years ago.
In 2024 just 20 percent of 16-17 year olds were earning and learning, down from 42 percent in 1997. In the 18–24 year-old age bracket, 34 percent were earning and learning in 2024, compared to 40 percent in 1997.
On top of this, the number of 16-24 year olds who have never had a job, excluding seasonal and holiday work, has increased by almost a third in the last 20 years.
Lizzie Crowley, senior skills adviser at the CIPD, said: “There are some fantastic skills and ideas that young people bring to the workplace, but there are also some significant challenges that they face in adjusting to working life. While studying for a degree is still the default choice for many, too many young people are disadvantaged because they have limited opportunities to develop an understanding of what’s expected in the workplace, or to take that first step into employment.
“There needs to be bolder action from the government to rebalance the youth labour market by making apprenticeships a viable alternative to university, addressing the collapse in apprenticeships in recent years. Currently just 6 percent of young people participate in an apprenticeship each year, and we need this figure to be much higher. The government’s ‘youth guarantee’ is a step in the right direction, but we want to see the government broaden out its ambition to benefit all young people aged 16-24 through introducing an ‘apprenticeship guarantee’. This will help better prepare them for working life and gain valuable skills, earn while they learn and give employers a skilled talent pipeline.”
