𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

The Government has been warned by a new report that not reforming welfare will lead to a “lost generation” of young people. Former cabinet minister Alan Milburn will share his findings with the Labour party today.

The report found that, without action, one in six young people will be on unemployment benefits by 2030. The number of NEETs (not in education, employment, or training) are also on course to increase 25%, from 950,000 to 1.25 million, with a youth jobs crisis worth than countries like Greece, France, and Spain. Milburn will warn Labour that major reforms are needed to welfare, education, and health in order to prevent the crisis from worsening. He will stop short of telling the Government to reverse measure that employers claim are making it harder to take on young people, like the increases to minimum wage and the new workers’ rights charter.

The report also claims that the welfare system, once built to provide a safety net for citizens, is now “exacerbating inactivity” and the increase in diagnoses for mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, and autism are keeping young people out of work.

There has also been a decline in the number of starter jobs available, making it harder to get started at work. The report also found that 84% of NEETs want to get into work or training, but cannot find a role.

Vacancies in hospitality have halved in the last four years, while the number of young people entering apprenticeships has gone down 35% since 2016

Milburn said a growing number of NEETs will become “permanently” out of work. “Six in 10 have never had a job,” he said. “Twenty years ago, that figure was closer to four in 10. Detachment is no longer temporary. For too many young people it is becoming permanent. We are at risk of a lost generation.

“The first rung of the career ladder has thinned. For too many young people it is now simply out of reach. That places them in a hopeless Catch–22 where employers ask for work experience but the opportunities for young people to gain it have narrowed or gone.

“This is not a failure of young people. It is a failure of a system stuck in the past. Whether it is education or health or welfare, that system fails to enable their participation in the labour market.”

Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “Every policy choice Labour has made, from their jobs tax, capping apprenticeship funding, or trapping young people on welfare, has made it harder for a young person to take their first step into work.

“Their only answer has been a flurry of piecemeal work programmes – an approach this report rubbishes. Starmer and his leadership rivals are too busy playing politics to deal with this generational crisis.”