Modern work experience – how employers can help tackle youth unemployment
By Dr. Natasha Hirst on 22 May 2025
The high rates of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) has been persistent for several decades in the UK. According to the Office for National Statistics Labour Force Survey, 15.8% of those aged 18 to 24 years were NEET in October to December 2024. This equates to 907,000 people, a rise of 90,000 from the previous year.
Youth unemployment is a serious issue that has lacked sufficient policy attention, and employers are an important part of the solution.
Cross-party policy think tank Policy Connect and the Skills Commission have launched a new inquiry to look holistically at the NEET challenge, exploring topics such as employment support, apprenticeships and vocational training and preventative intervention in pre-16 education.
Policy Connect highlight how “the impact of NEET is particularly profound for marginalised young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. There are serious ethnic inequalities, with young people from Black Caribbean backgrounds having a NEET rate more than double that of young people with White British backgrounds. Regional inequalities are also substantial, with NEET rates of 15% in the North East of England compared to 9.4% in the South West.”
Barriers to youth employment
Youth Employment UK CEO, LJ Rawlings, explains the range of barriers that contribute towards youth unemployment, with the impact of social media and technology, the COVID pandemic and cost-of-living crisis being particularly unique to the current generation of young people. “We’ve seen a massive reduction in the amount of youth clubs and youth opportunity available. So young people aren’t getting that outward activity that we used to perhaps have and benefit from.”
Rawlings adds, “COVID hit and so many of the industries that were prominent hires of young people shrunk and we haven’t seen everybody return back to the high street or return back to the same opportunities. We saw employers reduce their workforce and start using technology better to not have such a high labour market demand. These barriers are all consuming, and complex. It’s not one thing anymore.”
The social enterprise Youth Employment UK was set up in 2012 in the wake of the global financial crisis that saw employers turn off the early careers pipeline, squeezing young people out of the labour market. They conduct an annual survey of over 5000 young people aged 11 to 30, gaining a deep insight into their needs and expectations. This data informs their services which includes careers information, employability training and virtual work experience and support for a network of around a thousand employers.
Hugh Larkin is a Career Advisor with the charitable trust Positive Steps that delivers a range of targeted and integrated services for young people, adults and families. Larkin identifies further barriers including industries that can’t offer work experience due to insurance or confidentiality reasons, or those that simply can’t meet the demand for placement requests. It all limits the pool of opportunities.
Larkin explains, “often schools ask students to find their own placement, and it’s an easy process where parents/carers have the means to do this through contacts and social capital. For some students this just isn’t possible – they don’t have the network or reach and neither do their family. Additionally, fewer young people below 16 can secure Saturday jobs or part time employment as they used to in the past, so this could be their very first experience of the workplace and its demands.”
Further barriers include lack of English and Maths GCSEs and poor digital access, and a lack of local opportunities, especially affecting young people in rural areas without access to reliable or affordable transport. Young people may also be balancing caring opportunities or facing systemic discrimination, compounding inequality.
Mental health challenges can be significant for some but Rawlings is quick to counter unfair generalisations and criticisms of young people. “When we’re working with young people, inspire them. Show them where their skills matter or what they’re good at. That is a secret to really helping those young people thrive. Some young people might not be confident communicators. They might be quite introvert with quite high levels of anxiety. But they might be able to write a content piece that lands in the hearts and minds of millions of people. If we can help find the thing that young person is good at and bring that out of them, that will be an incredible building block for them.”
Overcoming lack of experience
Louise Quinney, COO of Movement to Work said, “In the face of rising youth unemployment and economic inactivity, removing the barriers that prevent young people from accessing the world of work has never been more urgent. Time and again, young people tell us the biggest obstacle to securing a job is a lack of experience. It’s the harsh reality of the ‘no experience, no job’ cycle – one that traps too many talented young people before they’ve even had a chance to prove themselves.”
Movement to Work is a UK charity dedicated to breaking the cycle of youth unemployment by connecting young people aged 16–30, with high-quality work experience and pathways into meaningful employment. Their newly launched Work Experience Works campaign has co-created practical best-practice guidance sharing what meaningful work experience looks like: inclusive recruitment, structured delivery, and wraparound support that meets young people where they are.
Quinney adds, “investing in inclusive work experience isn’t just the right thing to do; it also brings fresh thinking, strengthens teams, diversifies talent pipelines, and supports the development of a more equitable, future-ready workforce. It’s good for business, and even better for society. We believe work experience isn’t just a nice-to-have – it’s a vital, mutual opportunity for businesses and young people, and a crucial first step in helping young people realise their potential.”
Gabrielle Howell, now an electrical apprentice at BAE Systems, shared her thoughts. “I struggled to find a job where I truly fit in after leaving school, but my work experience programme with Movement to Work and BAE Systems changed everything. I discovered my passion for engineering, and now I’m training as an electrician, with an exciting career ahead of me in a field I love.”
The benefits are clear to Larkin too, “we see examples of young people in Year 10/11 who are utterly transformed when they return from a placement as it has challenged them, treated them as an adult and made them realise the skills required in the workplace, which are often very difficult to teach in schools via the PSHE curriculum.”
Modern work experience
The shape of work experience today looks vastly different to the rigid one or two solid weeks on a placement that Gen X and Millennials were familiar with. Opportunities can be much more tailored and flexible, from virtual opportunities to open days, or project activities that also contribute towards business needs.
Employers that support a positive culture for young people, benefit all their workforce. Young people seek employers where they feel they belong, are treated fairly, and their work is meaningful, across all types of jobs.
The benefits to employers who invest in this approach are multiple. Good early careers strategies, including work placements and schools engagement, offer long-term returns in recruitment and retention by building brand trust and familiarity and inspiring young people to seek out a career with you.
Rawlings points out that employers don’t have to do it all alone and collaborating with specialist organisations will support you to develop relevant and impactful engagement with young people. “Quality over quantity. That’s the place to start. What you do should be quality and should be based on what young people really need.”
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