As 2024 dawns, new graduates in the United Kingdom are experiencing a grim employment reality. With opportunities dwindling, their search for sustainable employment is becoming more and more difficult. Amy Wilkes, a 23-year-old from Coventry, recently got a job as a support worker. She had to wait seven months for this position, having recently graduated with a degree in criminology, policing, and investigation. Yet despite her success, she is a unique exception among her peers, and most of them face an uncertain job market after graduation.
Faisa Ali Tarabi, 24, from Bolton, has been unemployed for a draining 15 months. She applied for a position at an Aldi warehouse in March, only to receive a response stating, “You’ve done really well so far, we do not currently have a vacancy that fully meets your requirements.” Young people all over the country are frustrated. They are often denied employment, even at grocery chains.
The statistics reveal a stark reality: the number of 16-24 year-olds not in work, education, or training has reached its highest level in over a decade. At the end of 2024, the rate stood at 13.4%, meaning nearly one out of every seven individuals in this age group is unemployed or disengaged from education.
The situation is made worse by the largest decline in job openings ever recorded. The UK as a whole only provides 781,000 jobs these days, a record low in nearly four years. In fact, the number of part-time jobs has dropped 200,000 since 2017. Business groups have been vocal in their concern about amendments to the Employment Rights Bill expected this fall. They think these changes can have transformative impact on how agencies hire. More than one-third of HR directors surveyed said that such legal changes would result in fewer employees at their workplaces.
Though the numbers are daunting, Wilkes is optimistic about her classmates’ futures. “I know it’s really hard but there is a job out there for you,” she advised. She challenged the audience to think about what they can bring to the table that no one else can. “Think about what you can offer – that helped my confidence to think about myself and knowing my value and what I could bring to a company.”
Many young job seekers express frustration with the lack of feedback from employers after applications. Tarabi articulated her disappointment: “What really hurt me was not hearing back because you don’t get any feedback to tell you where you’re going wrong.”
The warping effect of anonymous voices on social media adds an exclamation point to these fears. One user lamented, “I finished my uni degree and can’t find one job within the field I studied for.” One wrote just as matter-of-factly, “I look daily; there is no work.” A third concluded, “Young people are not choosy; we literally cannot get employed even cleaning toilets.”
We are heartened to see the federal government stepping up as well to address these dual crises. They’ve put in place a new “youth guarantee” to increase employment among youth. A government spokesperson highlighted increasing youth employment as a key goal for their administration’s agenda. Yet even as localities ramp up their sustainability efforts, many doubt the effectiveness of these types of initiatives given increasing economic pressures.
“Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, highlighted the broader context of job losses in retail: ‘Almost 250,000 jobs have been lost in retail over the last five years and many major retailers have already announced further job cuts on the back of increased costs of employment which kicked in in April.’”
