271. Youth unemployment - a national emergency?
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What is the main issue of youth unemployment in the UK?
This is a visceral issue for the country. Leading this review into young people and employment for the government. If they formed a city, that would be the third biggest in the UK. So it's one in eight from 16 to 24 year olds. So the scale of it is enormous.
There's so many elements to this, but do you genuinely think we're going to see change?
You might have anxiety and depression, but diagnosis shouldn't automatically lead to you being signed off by a GP with a fit note.
How many young people are classified as NEET and what does it mean?
Then politically, This is a huge issue for the government. Let's remember, this is a government that was elected on a one-word slogan. What was it? Change.
Hello and welcome to The Rest Is Money with me, Steph McGovern. Now, Robert is currently in the Gulf with the Prime Minister at the time of recording this. I'm sure he'll have lots to tell us about it when he's back. So I've been left in charge. And today we have a friend of the show on, Alan Milburn, who's a familiar face in British politics. He served as Secretary of State for Health and Social Care under Tony Blair. He was responsible for modernising the NHS, marrying together parts of the public and private sector.
What systemic barriers contribute to youth unemployment?
And he is also hot on social mobility as the former chair of the Social Mobility Commission. And in that vein, he's now very much focused on looking at the issues of unemployment and particularly those needs we talk about, you know, the one million young people not in employment, education or training sector. It's been described as a national emergency. So I want to find out from Alan what the problem is and what he's doing about it. So here's my interview with Alan Milburn. Alan, it's great to have you back. You were last on in July 2024. Now, I can't believe that. It doesn't feel like two years has gone by, but, you know, we're nearly at two years.
What role does mental health play in youth unemployment?
It's not been much happening really, has it?
No, I know. I mean, very quiet, very quiet.
Very quiet, honestly.
things are changing in the minutes at the moment, aren't they? But what is not changing is your focus and mission to try and work out why there are so many young people not in work and also what we can do about it. So when we last spoke to you, you hadn't started this review. Now you are leading this review. I know you're quite far into it. There'll be stuff coming out from it over the next few months. But can you just give us a flavour of what you've been doing and where you're at with it?
So I'm leading this review into young people and employment for the government. It's pretty wide ranging. So we're doing it in two phases, I suppose.
How does the education system impact young people's job readiness?
Phase one is trying to understand who they are, a million young people or thereabouts. If they formed a city, that would be the third biggest in the UK. So it's one in eight from 16 to 24 year olds. So the scale of it is enormous. who they are, what's going on, where it might go, and critically, why do we think it's happening? So that's basically phase one. And then phase two, we're looking at, okay, if those are the problems, what are the solutions? So it's a two-phase thing. And then in between times, there's a huge volume of interaction, obviously with young people. I spent part of yesterday with a Group of young people talking about their lives, what's going on, their aspirations, their hopes, their dreams.
A lot of visits to different parts of the country, particularly where young people who are neat are concentrated because they're in particular places. Maybe we'll come back to that in a bit. Helping a lot to employers, to local authorities, to mayors, to football clubs.
What changes are needed in the welfare system to support young people?
Honestly, I'll tell you what has been really uplifting for me. A lot of it's really depressing, honestly. Because it's really bad and it's getting worse. But what's really uplifting is this is a visceral issue for the country. People are worried about the next generation of young people. I think maybe for the first time, maybe in 100 years, I don't know. People are feeling, parents and grandparents, that their kids might be worse off than they are, or the opportunities that they had are not going to be available.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the main issue of youth unemployment in the UK?
0:01–0:28
2
How many young people are classified as NEET and what does it mean?
0:28–1:17
3
What systemic barriers contribute to youth unemployment?
1:17–1:58
4
What role does mental health play in youth unemployment?
1:58–2:39
5
How does the education system impact young people's job readiness?
2:39–3:38
6
What changes are needed in the welfare system to support young people?
3:38–4:40
7
What solutions are being proposed to tackle youth unemployment?
4:40–5:59
8
How can communities and employers collaborate to reduce NEET rates?
5:59–48:29
Speakers
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