Firms need to stop complaining – and start creating jobs for young people

The Alan Milburn report makes for shocking reading. On page after page, he lays bare society’s neglect over decades of the young, how institutions in every sector and at all levels have let them down. Such is the detail in his findings and his conclusions that he is quite right to call it a “moral crisis” . Currently, there are 1 million young people classed as NEETs – not in work, education or training. That figure will rise. Milburn is predicting 1.25 million soon enough, but it could go a lot higher . Something radical and substantial is required to reverse what will, in all probability, become a societal disaster. In response, politicians are already citing welfare reform as key, with talk of denying benefits and encouraging/forcing people into work. Likely, the onus will entirely fall on the government to come up with a solution – employers and their trade associations will say it is not up to them, that they are struggling as it is, with red tape, the threat posed by AI and tech, wars and geopolitical uncertainty, economic fragility and lack of energy security, global competition, tariffs and yes, the rise in the minimum wage and employers’ national insurance. Whenever they gather, these are the moans they rattle off. Life is tough enough, they will say, don’t expect us to do any more. They must. Because it is all very well changing the benefits rules, boosting youth and careers services, providing more vocational courses and training programmes, if there are no jobs at the end of them. There are two sides to this equation and the employment half has to do its bit as well. Too often, they whinge and kick off. It’s not their fault, not down to them, ministers have no clue (they said this when the Tories were in power also), the unions are mad and dangerous, do-gooder public bodies only interfere and make their lives hell. Take the minimum wage. It is amazing how frequently, in conversation with business bosses, this bete noire is raised. It’s cited time and again as being unfair and ridiculous. Ignoring the fact that the person speaking is usually the chief of a profit-making enterprise and is personally pocketing a tidy sum, and a small percentage increase will not wreck their prospects as they claim. It won’t help the figures but hang on, it might create happier workers, who will not have to worry about making ends meet... and guess what? That could lead to better performance and increased productivity. What they don’t say is who suggests the size of the national minimum wage. It’s not the government but the Low Pay Commission, which is independent and made up of experts, trade unions and... employers. That does not wash with the business folks who like to lambast Westminster at any opportunity (again, regardless of whichever party is in Downing Street). Any government refusing to accept the commission’s recommendation would provoke an outcry for being heartless and uncaring. That’s usually followed by an attack on their successors, that the current crop is workshy, lazy, not fit for anything, only interested in sitting on their mobile phones. It suits their purpose – they would give them a chance but the youngsters aren’t interested It’s as if they have forgotten what it is like to be young, to be starting out in the adult world of work. Presumably, they were once in that category – uncertain, unsure, nervous, wishing to be able to afford to buy even the basic items, let alone treats, to break away from parents and stand on their own two feet. What they like to boast about is how keen they were to get on, how they would put in long hours and wish to impress and forge ahead. That’s how they got to where they are today. We’ve heard the stories, countless times. Go into any golf club bar today or listen to the older guys at the cricket or in the pub and you will hear the very same. That’s usually followed by an attack on their successors, that the current crop is workshy, lazy, not fit for anything, only interested in sitting on their mobile phones. It’s part of the shtick, this universal branding. It suits their purpose – they would give them a chance but the youngsters aren’t interested. To cap it all, they’re expected to reward them with an increased pay packet, says the government. You’ve got to be joking. Alan Milburn’s team did not prepare their report at a distance – and found that 84 per cent of those spoken to wish to work or become apprentices (PA) What this oft-repeated tirade enables is the doing of very little. They do not create vacancies for trainees, don’t provide work experience places, don’t develop genuine career ladders. Or rather, if they do, they don’t create, provide and develop enough. The most telling aspect of Milburn’s study is that they are wrong. To his credit, Milburn did not prepare his report at a distance, on high, in a dusty Whitehall room. He and his colleagues made the effort to engage with those affected – something that so many know-all badmouthers fail to do (they are not interested, just as they accuse young people of not being interested). The review finds that 84 per cent of those they spoke to wish to work or become apprentices; 19 per cent would like to enter education or training; 15 per cent are graduates; 30 per cent have good GCSEs or equivalent. For that, they are met with no vacancies at all, or increasingly, if an opening is available, an interview via AI. The would-be, seemingly willing hirer, cannot even be bothered to credit them with meeting a human being. It’s identical, incidentally, with redundancies. More and more, they are being conducted remotely. One of the recurring employer grievances is that this generation wish to work remotely, then they fire them remotely. As the Americans like to say, go figure. The first part is not true either – evidence is growing that Gen-Zers are against full-time remote working and would like to spend more time with their older colleagues, learning and being mentored in the office. If Milburn’s landmark exploration is to be accepted and not to languish on a shelf somewhere, with all the other studies that have gone nowhere, employers must step up. It would pay them to remember how they were once and how they would feel if they were in that position today. For it to have any chance at all, they really must.