340_aspirations and experience

1 Youth Insight: the voices of UK young people on their hopes and experience of the world of work

October 2013

Youth Insight The voices of UK young people on their experience of the world of work, and their aspirations for the future

Benjamin Reid and Nye Cominetti

with


The Work Foundation aims to be the leading independent international authority on work and its future, influencing policy and practice for the benefit of society. For further details, please visit www.theworkfoundation.com.

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/


Contents

1 Executive Summary 4

Key findings 4

Recommendations 6

2 Introduction 8

Young people and unemployment in the UK 8

Young people in employment in the UK 12

The KFC – The Work Foundation Youth Insight survey 14

3 Young people’s aspirations for work and careers 16

Careers and ideal jobs 16

Comparing aspirations for work – qualification level and gender 17

4 Young people’s experience of work and looking for work 19

Experience of work – training 20

Young People’s experience of looking for work 21

Experience of work and looking for work – the regional picture 23

Two nations? 26

6 Conclusions and Recommendations 30

7 Contact details 36


Executive Summary

Young people in the UK are positive about their future careers prospects, happy with their education, and have confidence the training they are getting in their jobs – when they are getting it – is equipping them for the future.

But today they are being let down. ‘Bad’ jobs, unemployment and underemployment, insufficient support to find jobs, and an extremely challenging labour market are all denying them opportunities to develop.

These are the main findings of the first KFC – The Work Foundation Youth Insight Survey, undertaken by The Work Foundation with IFF Research. The survey provides a snapshot of the experiences and aspirations for work of UK young people today. The sample of 2056 people from across the UK allows for detailed analysis of the attitudes and experiences of young people aged 16-24.

At a time when youth unemployment is at near-record highs – there are still almost a million young people (16 – 24) unemployed, with around 250,000 of those out of work for 12 months or more – there has never been a more important time to hear from young people about their needs, their hopes and their fears as they embark on their careers.

We hear a lot from experts on what must be done to support young people – but not enough from young people themselves. The KFC – The Work Foundation Youth Insight survey offers a unique window into young people’s aspirations for, and experience of, training, education and work in the UK today.

Key findings from the survey

1. The UK’s young people are aspirational, and hopeful about their future prospects, despite the current grim climate for employment.

o 63% are confident in their career prospects

o 64% believe they will eventually be in their ideal job

o Of those employed, 50% feel in control of their career

o Of those employed, 62% believe their job is providing skills to make them more employable in the future


2. There is a stark split between the generally positive aspirations of young people, and, for the majority of them, their current experience of work and finding work –the gap is greatest for those with low or no qualification, and in regions of the country where unemployment among young people is higher.

o 62% of those in employment would like to work more hours

o 32% of those in employment are not guaranteed a certain number of hours a week in their job

3. A significant minority of currently unemployed young people – almost a quarter (23%) – feel they have ‘almost no chance of finding a job in their area’

4. Many of the UK’s young people are not in jobs or industries that they see themselves in for the long term.

o 54% want to move jobs in the next 12 months

o Just 30% are working in an industry they would like to work in in the long-term

5. Young people have had, in the main, strong, positive experiences of in-work training when it has been provided for them, but they are not always clear how that training and skills can be translated into meaningful careers.

o 78% found the training they had had in work to be relevant to their job

o 67% believe the training they have received helps them to do their job better

o 41% feel that the training they have received makes them want to stay with their employer

6. Young people feel they lack sufficient and appropriate support, information, advice, and guidance about jobs, careers, training and opportunities. UK young people believe both government and business could do more to support them in these areas.

o 65% would like more support in applying for jobs

o 39% feel that employers fail to understand the needs of young people

o Only 15% have ever received useful feedback from an unsuccessful application

o 58% believe the government is not doing enough to help young people find work


Recommendations

The first KFC – The Work Foundation Youth Insight Survey has highlighted a number of areas where young people are being let down and where they need be supported in realising their aspirations for work and their careers. The survey indicates that young people need better support from businesses in terms of access to work, feedback through the job application process, and development when in work. They need schools and education providers to give more access to work experience opportunities alongside stronger careers advice and guidance. And they require government support through schemes which genuinely help young people smoothly transition from education into careers which have strong opportunities for development and progression. Most important is that action to support young people is coordinated across these stakeholders – business, government and education – at both a national level and at a local level. At a national level, business must engage with education providers and government to help inform policy, and shape cohesive strategies. The outcomes of collaboration at the national level must be clear leadership, drive, and, of course, resources for a wide range of innovative initiatives at the local level which also bring together businesses, schools and Further Education, and local government:


Large employers of young people in the UK have an important responsibility to engage at national and local levels to help tackle the UK’s youth unemployment crisis, and help build our future workforce.

From this overall framework, we identify four specific areas where the key stakeholders need to focus their attention, at both the national and the local level:

1) Apprenticeships – focus them on young people

o The vast majority of the recent increase in the number of apprenticeships has been going to those aged over 25. There must be greater focus on the expansion of apprenticeships for young people specifically, as a genuine route into continuous in-work development, and meaningful careers.

2) Careers advice and guidance – major strengthening required, including more business involvement

o This area of labour market support for young people has gone backwards rather than forwards in recent years. There is a pressing need for stronger, better informed advice and guidance for young people. It needs to be consistently provided across schools and colleges, over a longer period as young people develop career aspirations, and involve businesses in the training of careers advisors to a greater extent.

3) Work experience – no young people should leave full-time education without strong and meaningful experience of the workplace

o Particularly for those leaving full-time education with lower qualification levels, prior and meaningful experience of the workplace is crucial. The uniform provision of high-quality work experience – provided by business and employers and coordinated by schools and government – should be prioritised, and more rigorously enforced.

4) In-work training – the trend for a decline in the amount of training employers give young people must be reversed

o There is a huge opportunity to expand in-work training for young people to ensure smoother transitions between education and employment, and to get young people on the ‘escalator’ of a career rather than, for too many, the current cycle of low-wage work, and unemployment or underemployment.


Introduction and Context

Young people and unemployment in the UK

The UK has a youth unemployment crisis. There are almost a million 16-24 year olds who are unemployed. Even once full time students are removed from this number, it still leaves 637,000 unemployed young people (first quarter of 2013, Labour Force Survey). The growth in youth unemployment since the recession can be seen in Figure 1 below.

The country urgently needs to find ways to get these young people into work, for we know that periods spent unemployed while young has knock-on effects later in life – in the form of further spells of unemployment and lower earnings, something economists describe as ‘wage scarring’..

The situation is especially bleak for young people suffering from long-term unemployment. There are 274,000 16-24 year olds who have been unemployed for over 12 months (first quarter of 2013, Labour Force Survey). This number has been increasing consistently since 2008 – even though the overall number of young unemployed people has fallen slightly since its peak in early 2012. This group will find it hardest to find work even if the economy returns to growth.

Figure 1: Youth (16-24) unemployment since the beginning of the recession

Source: LFS

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Youth unemployment in the UK is a long-term problem

The UK’s youth unemployment problem did not begin with the recession, even though the 2008 crisis and its aftermath pushed numbers to crisis levels. In fact, the number of young unemployed people in this country has been growing since around 2004 (see Figure 2) – a time when the economy was growing strongly and when overall unemployment numbers were very low..

Figure 2: Youth unemployment (16-24) by duration unemployed, 1998-2013, seasonally adjusted

Source: ONS

The reasons for this trend are complex and difficult to pin down precisely, but a number of factors are involved:

- The labour market has changed – manufacturing jobs have declined relative to jobs in service industries, and the latter are harder to access for young people. They require different kinds of skills, and many employers expect new starters to have strong ‘employability’ skills from day one. This includes things like communication and organisational skills – which may not have been the focus of their academic education.

- The focus of back-to-work support changed. In the early 2000s the focus of policy was

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squarely upon single parents, and, arguably, less help was given to young people.

A considerable determinant of levels of youth unemployment – and particularly long-term youth unemployment – is a young person’s qualifications. Young people with lower levels of qualifications are much more likely to be unemployed than young people with mid- to higher-level qualifications. More than 40% of young people with no qualifications are unemployed – and fully half of these have been unemployed for over 12 months. By comparison, among young people with qualifications at A-level (or equivalents) or higher, just over 10% are unemployed – and a far smaller minority of that qualification group has been unemployed for more than 12 months. Figure 3 shows the unemployment levels of young people by qualification level. Although there is clearly a strong relationship between qualification levels and unemployment, unemployment rates for those with A-levels (or equivalents) are similar to those with degree level qualifications. The main difference in employment outcomes is between those with lower-level qualifications and those with mid-level qualifications.

Figure 3: Youth unemployment by qualification level

The effect of qualification levels on employment status for young people is particularly pronounced during economic downturns, with ‘slack’ labour demand causing a ‘bumping down’ in the labour market. This term refers to the fact that, at all levels, individuals who cannot find work at the level they would like – or is warranted by their skills and qualifications - are forced to apply for lower-level jobs. This in turn has a knock-on effect on those with lower skill levels, who face competition for jobs from those with higher skill levels, and lose out as a result. This process is particularly problematic for young people because, with less work experience, they are more reliant on their qualifications to prove their ability.

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Youth unemployment by qualification level, by duration (average of 4 quarters to 2013Q1, LFS)

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There is also a slightly longer-term trend which could explain the higher unemployment rates among young people specifically with lower-level qualifications. In recent decades, young people have spent longer in non-compulsory education – e.g. in post-compulsory schooling and in further and higher education. As an example, the Labour Government of 1997 – 2010 explicitly set out to increase the number of young people going to University. These policy decisions and goals have implications for the young people who choose to spend less time in non-compulsory education, as well as those who choose to leave education at age 16-17. Partly because of the expansion of UK young people entering higher education, there is recent evidence that employers, observing the trend of higher qualification levels among young people, have begun assuming that those young people who have little or no post-compulsory education are low-achievers, have less developed soft-skills, or have less application and perseverance than their peers – a myth the recent ‘Wolf’ report sharply questions.1

The international picture

UK youth employment levels since the recession are considerably above the average for the EU and for major developed countries. While certain individual EU nations have truly shocking levels of youth unemployment – Greece’s reportedly hovering around 50% – in fact even with these levels, according to the OECD, the UK’s rate of youth unemployment as a proportion of population (above 12%) is above both the EU average (just over 9%), and the average for the OECD group of developed nations (just over 8%).

But, as with the problem of rising long-term youth unemployment (as shown in Figure 2 above), the trend for higher UK youth unemployment compared to other nations pre-dates the recession (see Figure 4 below). The UK had a youth unemployment rate 2 percentage points higher than the EU average, and more than 3 percentage points higher than the OECD average, even at the peak of the economic boom in 2007.

Even more remarkable is the fact that in Germany youth unemployment has actually decreased during the recession. This – when compared to the crisis levels in the UK and many other countries – is an incredible achievement. There are lessons that the UK can learn from Germany, not least the need to invest in a high-quality apprenticeships system. Countries are of course very different, and due to different economic structures and cultures some of what works in places such as Germany may not necessarily apply to the UK.

1 Wolf, Alison (2011) Review of Vocational Education – ‘The Wolf Report’, London: TSO,

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/180504/DFE-00031-2011.pdf




Figure 4: Youth unemployment in the UK and select international comparisons since 2000

Source: OECD StatExtracts, Eurostat

The main lesson we would take from Germany’s record on youth employment is that the high rates of unemployment being experienced by the UK’s young people are not the inevitable outcome of a major recession. Better policies and institutions can make a big difference, both to young people’s experience of entering the labour market, and their prospects of progressing within it.

Young people in employment and in-work training in the UK Underemployment

People out of work for extended periods can become ‘scarred’ – i.e. their future chances in the labour market are impaired because their skills deteriorate and they lack recent work experience. It is therefore right that government places particular policy focus on youth unemployment during a recession. However, the economic downturn has also affected young people who have consistently been employed and in work. In particular, living standards for lower-paid, but full-time employed people have fallen in recent years, as wages have failed to keep pace with inflation.

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Another clear problem for young people in the current labour market is that many people are unable to work the number of hours they would like. This ‘underemployment’ is a major issue for young people in the UK, with many seeking to work more hours than their employer is willing to offer. It includes people working part-time who would prefer to work full-time.

Statistics from the Labour Force Survey suggest that, as of August 2013, fully 19% of young people in work say that they would like to work more hours. This has increased from 13% in 2008. Underemployment is a problem because a desire for more work generally follows a desire to increase earnings. Falling wages are therefore likely to be a key driver of underemployment – young people need to work more hours simply to maintain their current standard of living.

Figure 5: The number of people in work that would like longer hours

Would like longer hours 2008 2013 16-24 13% 19% 25+ 7% 10% All 8% 11%

Another driver of the increase in underemployment has been employers’ response to falling demand during – and since – the recession. Surveys show that the most common response by employers who have had to adjust to lower demand is to reduce the wages and hours of their employees.2 Such moves, indicative of the flexibility of the UK’s labour market, have likely contributed to keeping the overall unemployment figures lower than many expected –given the scale of the economic crisis.

Figure 5 shows that underemployment is a much greater problem among young people than among older age groups. Almost twice as many young people say they would like to work more hours as older workers.

Training and development There has been a steady decline in average business investment in in-work training – especially for young people, a trend which also pre-dates the recession. Although the aggregate figures shown in Figure 6 below can’t capture every aspect of in-work training, the overall trend is clear: this is a further indicator that young people’s experiences of work – particularly work that allows them to develop meaningful careers – is getting worse. Since 2002 the proportion of young people that report they have received in-work training in the last four weeks has fallen from 25% to below 20%. Over the same period the number of older workers receiving training has also fallen, but by smaller amounts than for young workers.

2 The Workplace Employment Relations Survey, 2011 https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-

2011-workplace-employment-relations-study-wers

Source: LFS

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-2011-workplace-employment-relations-study-wers

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-2011-workplace-employment-relations-study-wers


Figure 6: Business investment in in-work training

Source: Felstead et al. Training in Recession: The impact of the 2008-2009 recession on training at work, UKCES, September 2013, using LFS

The KFC – The Work FoundationYouth Insight survey We wanted to better understand how young people are faring as the UK emerges slowly from recession. While some data exists on these subjects – for example, the Prince’s Trust conduct a yearly Youth Index survey, which focuses on young people’s well-being across a range of areas – we wanted to provide a rich picture of young people’s current experiences and their attitude towards work and unemployment.

We wanted to highlight areas where young people’s voices can influence this debate, and inform policymakers and businesses on improving outcomes and experiences of work for all young people. We have therefore worked with KFC – a leading UK employer of young people, and a regular award winner in Britain’s Top Employers – and partnered with IFF Research, a leading survey house, to gain a stronger insight into the aspirations and reality of the world of work for the UK’s young people.

A richer appreciation of young people’s understanding of, and attitude to, work, and their own expectations and experience of work, will also help to develop policies that are better tailored to young people and their experiences. Since the recession pushed youth unemployment onto the national consciousness, policy makers have debated how to

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respond to the problem. However, these debates rarely feature the voices of young people themselves.

The first KFC – The Work Foundation Youth Insight survey looks to gather the authentic voices of young people on the aspirations for, and experience of, work, and to combine it with The Work Foundation’s long-standing research experience in youth unemployment research and policy. It surveys the situation, views and understanding of young people from across the UK, and gives insight into their views and situation on areas such as: work experience, attitudes to work, experience of unemployment, the experience of seeking work, and training and development opportunities when in work.

Details of the survey methodology are in Appendix 1 of this report.


Young people’s aspirations for work and careers

Given their current labour market woes, young people are remarkably upbeat about their longer-term prospects. From The KFC – The Work Foundation Youth Insight survey, two key findings indicating young people’s aspirations for work and careers are:

- 64 percent of respondents felt confident about their future career prospects

- Almost half (48 percent) feel that they are in control of their career.

In a context of media widespread doom and gloom around young people’s attitude to work – and suggestions that young people are ‘despairing’3 – it is encouraging to see that, when asked to think about the longer-term, young people have some confidence and maintain high aspirations. Another indication of these high aspirations is that 63 percent of young people believe they will eventually be in their ‘ideal’ job. Perhaps surprisingly, this is a relatively consistent finding across those employed, currently unemployed, and those not currently looking for work. Also encouraging is that, of those that are employed a majority – 63 percent – feel that their job is providing them with skills that will make them more employable in the future, even if, as other research confirms, young people aren’t always clear about how to achieve their aspirations.4

Only 16 percent feel that their education to-date has not prepared them well for work, suggesting the majority of young people feel ready for the challenges their career will bring. For those who are currently in education (as their primary activity) our survey indicates very high levels of satisfaction with their current education – 91 percent are satisfied – and more than three-quarters profess themselves satisfied with the teaching they receive in their current course or programme.

It is important to note that we do not believe young people are, in the main, being ‘naïve’ in their aspirations when responding to the survey. Our findings dovetail with those of another recent survey, that as young people move on beyond compulsory schooling, their aspirations

become more realistic. 5 We also asked young people what their ideal job would be, to double-check what kind of aspirations they had. Contrary to cliché, very few suggested ‘X factor’-style ‘instant stardom’ jobs. The traditional ‘professions’ – like law and accountancy, medicine and teaching – were frequently mentioned, as was starting up a business and, encouragingly for the authors of this report, market and social research. When the ‘creative

3 For example, http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/nov/01/despair-desperation-behind-youth-unemployment 4 Millward et al. (2006) Young people’s job perceptions and preferences, London: BIS,

http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file28575.pdf 5 Charlie Bell, Reality check: are young people's career aspirations unrealistic?, The Guardian, 19th March 2013

http://careers.theguardian.com/young-people-career-aspirations-unrealistic

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2011/nov/01/despair-desperation-behind-youth-unemployment

http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file28575.pdf

http://careers.theguardian.com/young-people-career-aspirations-unrealistic


industries’ were mentioned, it was often in relation to production and support roles, rather than on-screen stardom. Animal husbandry was surprisingly popular. We believe young people’s aspirations are high, but are also grounded at the upper end of what might be possible. Rather than being overly idealistic, we believe these are the kinds of roles many could indeed achieve, given the right support, guidance and training.

Comparing aspirations for work – qualification levels and gender If we look in more detail at young people’s desires for work from our survey, we can discern some distinct differences between groups of young people. As an example, Figure 7 below shows that a young person’s highest level of qualification affects what they are seeking from work. Figure 7 shows the percentage point difference between respondents as to whether they put a factor in their ‘top 3’ most important things they look for from work. Further to the right indicates that element is more important for those with higher qualifications, further to the left indicates that element is more important for those with few or no qualifications. The relative importance of training and development, and more ‘tangible’ factors such as hours offered, salary and holidays among those with fewer or no qualifications contrasts with the predominance of ‘intrinsic’ factors such as opportunities for progression and interesting work among those with relatively higher qualifications.

Figure 7: What do young people with varying levels of highest qualification look for from work?

Another interesting comparison for differences young people’s aspirations for work is the difference between young men and young women. Figure 8, as in Figure 7, shows the percentage point difference between respondents as to whether they put a factor in in their ‘top 3’ most important things they look for from work. Further to the right indicates that a factor is more important to young men, further to the left indicates that a factor is more important for young women. Compared to a comparison by qualification levels, here we see more of a mix of intrinsic and extrinsic factors, with men favouring some career aspects such

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as security and progression, but also some extrinsic aspects like salary and benefits. Young women are more focused on developing themselves, through interesting work and good quality training. But they also are concerned to ensure they can get the right number of hours – possibly an indication even women aged 16-24 are more keen than young men on the possibility of working more flexibly, as is the case among older age gruops. The interest among young men in job security might appear inconsistent with the conventional wisdom about young workers – who are often seen as flighty and uncommitted – but in fact this dovetails with other surveys examining the importance of job security for young people, particularly since the onset of the recession.6

Figure 8: What do young men look for from work compared to young women?

Overall in terms of aspirations, the Youth Insight survey suggests that young people’s long-term view of their prospects in the labour market is positive, and that their employment goals are high, but not, in our view, overly idealistic. There are clear differences between men and women, and among those with different qualification levels, in what they are seeking from work, suggesting they will require tailored kinds of support to realise those aspirations.

6 Pew Research Center (2010) Millenials: a portrait of generation next , http://www.pewresearch.org/millennials/

http://www.pewresearch.org/millennials/


Young people’s experience of work and looking for work

If we move away from examining how young people see their medium and long-term futures in the labour market, and focus instead on our survey respondents’ current experience of work, and seeking work, we get a much bleaker picture.

The one apparently bright spot in young people’s current experience of the labour market is that 61 percent of employed young people are ‘satisfied’, with their current job. However, it has recently been suggested that continued positive job ‘satisfaction’ in the current economic climate is a poor reflection of young people’s actual level of engagement with their jobs: ‘a high level of job satisfaction may simply reflect the low expectations of workers – workers may get little from their jobs but if they expect to get little in the first place they may still report relatively high job satisfaction’.7

To set in context that job satisfaction level, almost half of those in employment do not feel valued by the employer, and only just over half feel proud to be in their current job, which suggests the genuine connection to their current role is relatively weak – satisfaction as ‘accepting’ rather than enthusiasm.

The current experience of work for young people seems to be both insufficient and unengaging; the former indicated by a very large majority – 64 percent – who would like to increase the number of hours they work (working being rather precarious and contingent for them (32 percent of those in some kind of employment are not guaranteed a certain number of hours a week in their job), and the latter by young people’s desire to ‘move on’: more than half – 54 percent – would like to move to a different job in the next 12 months, and, moreover, only 30 percent indicate they are working in an industry they would like to work in in the long-term.

When we look at the responses of those young people from less affluent backgrounds, and with (currently) lower levels of qualifications, we find, as we would expect, that they are more likely than the average to be pessimistic about their future careers (8 percent more likely), less likely to be satisfied with their current job when they are in work (10 percent less likely), and more likely to feel they are struggling to cope if they are unemployed (9 percent more likely).

7 David Spencer, Why reported job satisfaction is a poor guide to job quality in Britain, Pieria, 4th

September 2013, http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/why_reported_job_satisfaction_is_a_poor_guide_to_job_quality_in_britain

http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/why_reported_job_satisfaction_is_a_poor_guide_to_job_quality_in_britain

http://www.pieria.co.uk/articles/why_reported_job_satisfaction_is_a_poor_guide_to_job_quality_in_britain


Experience of work – training One area of their current jobs where young people are positive is training. But the survey indicates that access to training is far from universal for those young people in work. In fact, 18.4 percent of employed respondents suggest they have received no training in the last 12 months, including ‘informal’ training. Figure 9 below shows that on-the-job or informal training is the most popular approach to training young people – but even that has only been experienced by half of the survey’s sample of young employed people.

Figure 9: Types of training young people have received in the last 12 months

Formal off-site training does not appear to be a major feature of young people’s formal development at work, with work experience, online training and independent study all featuring as major training methods.

The training that young people have received they have generally found to be relevant, they learned something new, and they believe it allowed them to do their job better. Figure 10 below indicates what percentage of respondents agreed that their training had given them a particular advantage or attribute. Many more seem to agree that the training helps them ‘within’ work – being relevant and doing new things, than it helps them with more tangible labour market changes – such as getting a job with a new employer, in a new industry, or gaining an higher wage. This is potentially related to the ‘relevance’ statistic. It may be that much of the (informal, on the job) training is very closely focused on their current job, rather than providing broader development which would be considered more transferable.

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Figure 10: What do young people believe they are getting from their training?

Young People’s experience of looking for work For those that are currently unemployed the current picture is particularly bleak. 23 percent appear to have given up hope of finding a job, saying they have ‘no chance’ of finding a job where they live in the near future. And, in consequence, 32 percent feel they are struggling to cope with unemployment.

These results are similar to those from the most-recent Prince’s Trust Youth Index, which focuses more directly on young people’s wellbeing. It indicates that periods – especially extended periods – of unemployment are currently having a severe effect on young people’s wellbeing.8 Particularly notable in relation to our finding that 32 percent of our sample feel they are struggling to cope with unemployment is the Prince’s Trust finding that 55 percent of young people not in education, employment or training feel their life has been put “on hold” due to unemployment.

There is a clear need to ensure young people remain engaged and supported in the process of seeking work if they are to escape the sense of their lives ‘on hold’, and to avoid feeling that they struggle to cope with unemployment.

8 Prince’s Trust (2013) The Prince’s Trust Youth Index 2013, London: Prince’s Trust.

http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/pdf/youth-index-2013.pdf

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http://www.princes-trust.org.uk/pdf/youth-index-2013.pdf


Approaches to seeking work An important aspect of young people’s approach to finding work is who they look to for advice and guidance. Figure 11 below indicates the percentage of young people who are using a particular source for information about careers, and career options.

Figure 11: Where do young people get careers advice?

As is clear from Figure 11, parents are the most-used source of careers advice for young people. This has implications, as it may be limiting the careers information that young people receive, i.e. related to their parent’s careers. A well-functioning careers service must be knowledgeable enough to provide a wide range of possibilities for young people, as well as helping young people towards options that are well-suited to the young person’s interests and skills. It is arguable that parents and friends are not well placed to do this.

Another question from the survey, examining how useful young people found each of these sources of careers advice indicates that young people rated formal channels such as school’s career advice service, JobCentres and Careers Services less highly than the more informal channels. This indicates that that young people are most likely to use information received from sources they know, and most likely to place more trust in these sources. Even ‘career websites’ rated higher in terms of usefulness than school’s career services.

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Percentage of young people that have used a specific source of careers advice


Experience of work and looking for work – the regional picture In many respects, such as attitudes towards education, our survey identified consistent opinions among young people in different parts of the UK. However there were some issues on which young people’s opinions in different regions varied significantly. In particular, there were discrepancies in regional job satisfaction levels, in career confidence and in pessimism among the unemployed.

There are no clear patterns to regional attitudes among young people. Some regions have young people with high job satisfaction while also scoring lower for career confidence and the optimism of the unemployed. It appears that each region has its own strengths and weaknesses. We will track regional responses in future surveys to see if a more consistent picture emerges.

Job satisfaction There is variation in job satisfaction across the UK’s regions. On the basic question – are you satisfied with your current job? – young people in the East Midlands expressed the most satisfaction (75% said they were satisfied with their job) and those in Northern Ireland the least (52% said they were satisfied). Respondents from regions expressing low satisfaction were the South West and West Midlands. Figure 12: Satisfaction with current job by region

Interestingly, the spread of job satisfaction levels shown in Figure 12 are not perfectly mirrored in the more detailed job satisfaction levels. Some regions are happier with some aspects of their jobs than others. For instance, while young people in East Midlands rank highest for overall job satisfaction, they do less well on job pride, and less well on

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satisfaction with earnings. Young people in the South West of England express low overall job satisfaction (57% are satisfied with their job, compared to 65% across the UK) but are among the happiest with their pay (56% are satisfied with their earnings, compared to the overall average of 48%).

Career confidence There is some variation in how confident young people in different regions are in their future career prospects. This is best illustrated by looking at responses to the question – how confident are you of one day having your ‘ideal’ job? Most notable is the lack of confidence in Wales. Fewer than half (49%) thought they would land their ideal job in the future, compared to almost two thirds (64%) overall in the UK, and compared to regions such as the North East and East Midlands, where over 70% of young people expect to have their ideal job in the future. Figure 13: Young people’s confidence of one day having their ideal job

Attitudes while unemployed There is significant variation in the confidence among unemployed young people in different regions of their chances of finding work. Overall in the UK, 35% of unemployed young people say they are confident of finding work in the next three months. There is high confidence in Northern Ireland, where 48% are confident of finding work in the next three months, and low confidence in the North East of England, where a very low 21% are confident. To a lesser extent, unemployed young people in Wales, Yorkshire and Humber and Scotland are also lack confidence that they will be able to find work in the near future.

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Another interesting measure of the attitudes among the unemployed – especially for the regional dimension – is how confident young people are of finding work where they live. As Figure 14 shows, young unemployed people in the North East are by far the least confident, about their chances of finding work in their local labour market, with over a third (35%) saying they have no chance of finding work where they live. There is also significant pessimism in the West Midlands, with 28% of unemployed young people feeling they have no chance of finding work where they live.

Figure 14: Young unemployed people on their job chances in their local area

There were also significant regional differences in whether unemployed young people feel that unemployment has a negative impact on them. In the UK overall, 57% of unemployed young people think unemployment has a negative impact on them. In the West Midlands over 70% of young unemployed people think they are being negatively affected, compared to less than half in Yorkshire and Humber, London and the South East.

Immigration Our survey asked young people whether they think immigration has reduced the number of jobs available for people like them, and interestingly found significant variation in different parts of the country. Young people in the North East and London significantly less likely than other regions to connect immigration with lack of jobs, with only around a third (34% and 35% respectively) saying they think immigration has reduced job opportunities for them. Young people in Northern Ireland and the South West of England expressed most concern about immigration. In these areas, almost half of young people draw a connection between immigration and a fewer job opportunities for them (47% in both areas).

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Two nations? Young people are a varied group. In this report the phrase ‘young people’ is used to refer to people aged between 16 and 24 but within this age bracket are people facing wildly differing circumstances. Someone who has left school at age 16 after their GCSEs is in a very different position to a 24 year-old who has a degree and potentially three years’ work experience. Young people’s experiences will also be affected by where they live, by the education they have received, by the local labour market conditions, by the support available to them from their parents and others, and by the industry they are trying to find work in.

To show how different young people’s experiences can be, we selected two distinct groups within our sample. These groups are separated by their socio-economic background and by their local labour market conditions. We called these groups ‘disadvantaged’ and ‘well positioned’.

• Disadvantaged: Young people living in areas with weak economies (North East, North West, Yorkshire and Humber, Wales, Northern Ireland) from a lower socio-economic background (C2DE on the NRS social grade)

• Well positioned: Young people living in areas with strong economies (London and South East) and from ‘higher’ socio-economic groups (ABC1 on the NRS social grade).

Overall, disadvantaged young people show lower levels of job satisfaction (although higher satisfaction with earnings), are less likely to believe that education prepared them well for work, feel less confident about their career prospects, if unemployed are more pessimistic about finding work in their area, and are more likely to think that Government needs to do more to help young people.

Job satisfaction On most measures the Well Positioned group are more satisfied with their jobs. The graph below shows the variables from the Youth Insight survey related to job satisfaction. A positive value represents higher satisfaction expressed by the Well Positioned group (in percentage points difference between those that agree with the statement from each group). A negative bar – pointing left – represents greater agreement with the statement among the Disadvantaged group.

This shows that on all but two measures the Well Positioned group are more satisfied with their jobs. The Disadvantaged group are happier with their earnings, and are more likely to feel valued by their employer. However, the Well Positioned group feel more overall job satisfaction, are almost 10 percentage points more likely to be working in an industry they would like to work in in the long term, and are also much more likely to feel stimulated by and proud of their current job.


Figure 15: What makes ‘disadvantaged’ and ‘well positioned’ young people satisfied with their job?

Education On education, both groups expressed similar satisfaction levels on most measures (including on the quality of teaching, and on careers advice received). However, one notable difference between the groups was in their respective belief that their education had prepared them well for work. 52.3% of the Well Positioned group believed their education had done so, compared to just 43.8% of those in the Disadvantaged group.

Unemployment

Among the unemployed members of the two groups there are similar confidence levels about their chances of finding work in the short (3 months) and long term (12 months). However, a difference emerges when the groups report their confidence of finding work where I live. The Disadvantaged group are 6 percentage points more likely to agree with the statement ‘I have no chance of finding work where I live’. This result is not surprising. The groups were deliberately selected to reflect the impact that location has on young people’s attitudes. The disadvantaged group all live in areas that have experienced very low growth over the past decade. There are simply fewer jobs available in

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Percentage point difference between Disadvantaged group (left) and Well Positioned group (right)

Job satisfaction: Disadvantaged group compared to Well Positioned group


these places than in London and the South East, which is where the Well Positioned group live. Perhaps less expected are the differing experiences of unemployment reported by the two groups. The proportion of unemployed young people who said they could not cope with unemployment was 14 percentage points higher in the Disadvantaged group than the Well Positioned group. Similarly, the Disadvantaged group are 10 percentage points more likely to believe that unemployment has a negative impact on them. The Disadvantaged group also appear less well placed to move from unemployment into work. They express less confidence about communicating with employers by phone and email, and are 6 percentage points more likely to want more support with job applications. Unhelpfully, the Disadvantaged group are also less likely to have ever received useful feedback from an employer that had turned them down for a job.

Future career Across three key variables relating to career confidence, the Well Positioned Group express greater confidence. They feel more in control of their career, they are more confident about their future career, and they are (to a slightly lesser extent) more confident about eventually getting their ideal job.

Figure 16: career confidence of our ‘two nations’ groups

Experiences of work have hardened attitudes to the Government?

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Career confidence: Disadvantaged group compared to Well Positioned group

Disadvantaged Well Positioned


One reading of the survey data is that the poorer experiences of work and unemployment, and lower career confidence among the Disadvantaged group have hardened their attitude towards the government. This group are 9 percent more likely to think that the government is not doing young people into work. This group is also significantly more likely to make a connection between immigration and their own labour market outcome: 48.3 percent of the Disadvantaged group think that immigration has reduced the number of jobs available for them, compared to just 34.6 percent of the Well Positioned group.


Conclusions and Recommendations

An overall improvement in economic outlook in the UK will, of course, start to create at least incremental improvements in levels and rates of youth employment. The recession has taken a major toll on the ability of young people to find work, and good work, and has been a major factor in current near-record levels of youth unemployment.

But it is abundantly clear from the labour market statistics we have reviewed for this report, and the findings of the first KFC – Work Foundation Youth Insight survey, that problems in the UK youth labour market pre-date the recession9, and that there are a range issues in supporting young people into work and through their early careers which are likely to remain problems even in a strong economic recovery. The most recent UK labour market statistics – September 2013 – in fact suggest that employment numbers are improving for nearly all groups and types of jobs except for young people.10

There are therefore pressing concerns around the system for supporting young people out of education and into meaningful careers – concerns that will require attention even if the UK enters a period of strong economic growth. This is not an area where the overall economic outlook dictates all of the outcomes – we know from international comparisons that a country’s policies and practices around supporting young people into good employment can make a vast difference to young people’s education-to-work transitions. Examples of countries the UK can learn from who have faced similar recessions to ours but who have achieved lower young unemployment rates would include Germany around apprenticeships, Denmark’s range of active labour market policies, and Netherlands in terms of flexible labour markets for young people.11

A key aspect to success or failure for young people concerns how the different stakeholders in the system operate together. The first KFC – Work Foundation Youth Insight survey has found a range of areas where young people are being let down when they need be supported in realising their aspirations for work and careers. The survey indicates that young people need better support from businesses and employers in terms of access to work, feedback through the job application process, and development when in-role. But they

9 For more detailed analysis, see Sissons et al. (2012) Short term crisis – long-term problem?

Addressing the youth employment challenge. The Work Foundation: London. http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/314_short-term%20crisis_long_term_problem.pdf

10 Office of National Statistics (September 2013) http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/september-2013/table-a06.xls

11 Crowley et al. (2013) International Lessons: Youth Unemployment in a global context. The Work Foundation: London. http://www.theworkfoundation.com/Reports/329/International-Lessons-Youth-unemployment-in-the-global-context

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/314_short-term%20crisis_long_term_problem.pdf

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/314_short-term%20crisis_long_term_problem.pdf

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/september-2013/table-a06.xls

http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/september-2013/table-a06.xls

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/Reports/329/International-Lessons-Youth-unemployment-in-the-global-context

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/Reports/329/International-Lessons-Youth-unemployment-in-the-global-context


also need schools and education providers to give more access to work experience opportunities, and stronger careers advice and guidance. And they require government support through schemes which genuinely help young people smoothly transition from education and into careers which have strong opportunities for development and progression.

Most important is that action to support young people is coordinated across these stakeholders – business, government and education – at both a national level and at a local level (see Figure 17 below). At a national level, business must engage with education providers and government to help inform and understand policy, and shape cohesive strategies. The outcomes of collaboration at the national level must be clear leadership, drive, and, of course, resources for a wide range of innovative initiatives at the local level which also bring together businesses, schools and Further Education, and local government. .

Figure 17: Business, government and education providers must co-ordinate support at a national and at a local level

In addition to increasing the levels of coordination at a national and local level, the findings from the survey suggest that the following four specific areas are important for stakeholders to focus upon in improving the system for supporting young people from education and into work: apprenticeships, careers advice, work experience, and in-work training.


Apprenticeships In recent years, apprenticeships have been re-established as a major and growing vehicle for vocational transitions which combine education and employment. Numbers of apprenticeships have soared since 2008. However, as Figure 18 below shows, contrary to many assumptions about apprenticeships, in fact the vast majority of those new apprenticeships instituted since 2009-10 have gone to those aged over 25.12 While there is of course a place for apprenticeship-style employment support for older adults, apprenticeships should be a primary approach to giving structured and tailored support for young people into stable and meaningful employment and careers.

Better information about apprenticeships is also crucial. From the Youth Insight survey, as an example, nearly 35 percent of respondents erroneously believe that you don’t get paid if you’re doing an apprenticeship.

Figure 18: Numbers of formal apprenticeships by age group, 2002-2012

1) Businesses and government should focus attention on providing and expanding apprenticeships specifically for young people, with a focus ensuring they are a genuine route into continuous in-work development, and meaningful careers.

12 Forthcoming research from The Work Foundation on apprenticeships will also examine whether

there is sufficient focus within apprenticeships on using them to help transition young people from education and into employment, as opposed to providing apprenticeships for existing employees.

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Careers Advice The Youth Insight survey shows that parents are the most frequently used source of career advice, with professional advice, including through schools, lagging far behind other sources – a finding consistent with other research on young people’s career advice.13 Unfortunately professional careers advice – often singled out as a weak area in the UK’s education-to-employment system – appears to have suffered through a recent major policy change giving schools rather than local authorities responsibility for careers advice provision. As a recent Ofsted report on schools’ provision of careers advice and guidance concluded:

Three quarters of the schools visited for the survey were not implementing their duty to provide impartial careers advice effectively. The survey also finds that guidance for schools on careers advice is not explicit, the National Careers Service is not promoted well enough and there is a lack of employer engagement in schools.14

There is also evidence that what provision there is is patchy, both in terms of a ‘postcode lottery’, with the extent of advice being dependent on where you live, but also in terms of which point within your education you might receive it.15 In many cases careers advice and guidance appears not to be linked to other parts of the education-to-work transition system such as work experience. The Youth Insight survey indicates clearly that young people feel the careers advice and guidance they get at the moment is lacking.

2) There is a pressing need for stronger, better-informed careers advice and guidance for young people, provided on a more consistent basis while young people are still in education, and with far greater involvement of employers in the career advice process, including the education and training of professional careers advisors.16

Work Experience

The Youth Insight survey indicates that many young people’s current experience of work is less than satisfactory – but that prior experience of the workplace is particularly important in

13 Millward et al. (2006) Young people’s job perceptions and preferences, London: BIS,

http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file28575.pdf 14 OFSTED (2013) Going in the right direction? Careers guidance in schools from September 2012,

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/careers-guidance-schools-not-working-well-enough-0 15 The Pearson Think Tank (2013) Careers 2020 Phase 2, London:

http://thepearsonthinktank.com/2013/research-report-careers-2020-phase-two-a-cloudy-horizon-2/ 16 Balaram, Brhmie, and Crowley, Lizzie (2012) Raising aspirations and smoothing transitions: The

role of careers education and careers guidance in tackling youth unemployment, The Work Foundation: London. http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/320_UPDATEDFinal%20proof%20of%20CECG.pdf

http://www.bis.gov.uk/files/file28575.pdf

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/news/careers-guidance-schools-not-working-well-enough-0

http://thepearsonthinktank.com/2013/research-report-careers-2020-phase-two-a-cloudy-horizon-2/

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/320_UPDATEDFinal%20proof%20of%20CECG.pdf

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/320_UPDATEDFinal%20proof%20of%20CECG.pdf


entering the labour market. Broadly, young people with greater work experience, are more positive about how a career prospects. Therefore ensuring sufficient opportunity for meaningful experience of work while still in education is crucial, as part of a smooth transition from education to the workplace.

The Youth Insight findings tally with other sources on the importance of strong and meaningful work experience – for example, on leaving education, some 48 per cent of young people not in education, training or employment have no experience of paid work; and this figure has increased from 41 per cent in 2001. 17 The number of young people leaving education with no experience of the workplace is rising, and the number of students combining work and study is falling.18

There is a clear role for employers to work with schools and government to provide a wider range of high-quality work experience placements for young people, with a focus on those who might otherwise leave education with minimal or no experience of the workplace.

3) Particularly for those leaving full-time education with lower qualification levels, prior and meaningful experience of the workplace is crucial. No young people should be leaving full-time education without strong and meaningful experience of the workplace. The provision of high-quality work experience – provided by business and employers and coordinated by schools and government – should be prioritised, and more rigorously enforced.

In-Work Training The Youth Insight survey shows that young people have highly-positive attitudes towards the training they receive in work – and believe that the training they have received is helping their careers and making them more employable. But in the broader picture levels of training for young people has been falling on average, and at a faster rate than the drop in investment in training for other age groups in the workforce.19 And the Youth Insight survey also worryingly found that more than 18% of young people reported not receiving any training in the last 12 months.

A recent major OECD report on adult skills found that, uniquely among the developed nations, skill levels among the UK’s young people were no higher than those in the workforce immediately in the group prior to retirement – this despite advances in education, 17 Sissons, Paul and Jones, Katie (2012) Lost in transition? The changing labour market and young

people not in employment, education or training. The Work Foundation: London. http://theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/310_lost_in_transition%20(2).pdf

18 Thomspon, Spencer (2013) Experience of work raises chances of employment, London: IPPR, http://www.ippr.org/articles/56/11135/experience-of-work-raises-chances-of-employment

19 Felstead et al. (2013) Training in Recession: The impact of the 2008-2009 recession on training at work, UKCES, http://www.ukces.org.uk/publications/er72-training-in-recession

http://theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/310_lost_in_transition%20(2).pdf

http://www.ippr.org/articles/56/11135/experience-of-work-raises-chances-of-employment

http://www.ukces.org.uk/publications/er72-training-in-recession


technology, and young people having been in education more recently.20 Failing to invest in training young people as they enter and develop in the workforce risks perpetuating an ‘hourglass’ model of the labour market, with a large proportion of employees ‘trapped’ in lower-skilled, lower wage roles without the opportunity to progress and develop. Instead, meaningful development opportunities and progression paths should be available to all young people in work.

The longer term business case for investment in the careers of young people is strong21, but government, schools and businesses all need to take some responsibility for provision of on-going training.

A crucial part of ensuring young people have a smooth transition between education and the labour market is ensuring there is continued investment in them to develop careers and the possibility of progression as part of a life-long learning strategy. As part of a coordinated national and local system of youth employment policy and practice, combining business, schools and government, in-work training should be seen as part of the overall and ongoing process of transitioning young people from education and into work.

4) The decline in the amount of training employers give young people must be reversed. There is a huge opportunity to expand in-work training for young people to ensure smoother transitions between education and employment, and to get young people on the ‘escalator’ of a career rather than, for too many, a cycle of low-wage work, and unemployment or underemployment. 22

20 OECD (2013) Survey of Adult Skills, http://www.oecd.org/site/piaac/surveyofadultskills.htm 21 Hogarth, T. et al. (2012) Employer Investment in Apprenticeships and Workplace Learning: The Fifth

Net Benefits of Training to Employers Study: BIS paper No. 67, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32306/12-814-employer-investment-in-apprenticeships-fifth-net-benefits-study.pdf

22 Sissons, Paul (2011) The Hourglass and the Escalator: Labour Market Change and Mobility. The Work Foundation: London. http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/292_hourglass_escalator120711%20(2)%20(3).pdf

http://www.oecd.org/site/piaac/surveyofadultskills.htm

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32306/12-814-employer-investment-in-apprenticeships-fifth-net-benefits-study.pdf

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/32306/12-814-employer-investment-in-apprenticeships-fifth-net-benefits-study.pdf

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/292_hourglass_escalator120711%20(2)%20(3).pdf

http://www.theworkfoundation.com/DownloadPublication/Report/292_hourglass_escalator120711%20(2)%20(3).pdf


Appendix – Methodology

This report uses a new, nationally representative sample of 2,056 young people (aged 16 to 24) to draw findings on young people’s attitudes to work, unemployment, careers, education and training and other issues. The survey was conducted by research company IFF Research, who used their bank of regular respondents to form the sample. The data has been weighted to provide results indicative of the national youth cohort.

We intend to repeat this survey on a regular basis – potentially every six months or once a year. Each iteration of the survey will repeat the main body of the questions, allowing us to track young people’s opinions and attitudes over time. We will also use these surveys to focus on particular issues relating to young people and work. This first survey focuses on experiences of and attitudes towards in-work training.

As well as the Youth Insight survey, this report also uses evidence and data from other reports and surveys. Other data sources used include:

• The Government’s Labour Force Survey for statistics on earnings, unemployment, job turnover and under-employment

• The Workplace Employment Relations Survey for data on job satisfaction • Data from the National Apprenticeships Service for data on apprenticeships


Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support and insight of the following individuals in undertaking this research and preparing this report:

- Jenny, Ian, James and Martin from KFC - Clare, Lee and Alex from Freuds Communications - Emma and David from IFF Research - Emma, Hem and Gemma from Signal & Noise - Anna, Lizzie, Ceri, Katy, Charles, Nina, Conor and Angelo from the Work Foundation

The Work Foundation aims to be the leading independent, international authority on work and its future, influencing policy and practice for the benefit of society. Through its rigorous research programmes targeting organisations, cities, regions and economies, The Work Foundation is a leading provider of research-based analysis, knowledge exchange and policy advice in the UK and beyond. Organisations from across all industry sectors can sign up as partners to gain access and active involvement in research, thinking and practice emerging from its work. The Work Foundation is part of Lancaster University – an alliance


that enables both organisations to further enhance their impact.

Contact details

Dr Benjamin Reid, Senior Researcher [email protected] @drbenjaminreid Nye Cominetti, Research Assistant [email protected] @nyecominetti

The Work Foundation 21 Palmer Street London SW1H 0AD

[email protected] www.theworkfoundation.com

All rights reserved © The Work Foundation (Lancaster University). No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form without prior written permission of the publishers. For further information please contact [email protected]. The Work Foundation Alliance Limited, 21 Palmer Street, London, SW1H 0AD, UK. Registered Charity No. 1146813. Registered as a company limited by guarantee No. 7746776. Registered address: Lancaster University, Bailrigg, Lancaster LA1 4YW, UK.

mailto:[email protected]


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340_aspirations and experience

Documents

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voices of uk young people

experiences of young

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young peoples aspirations

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