On Tuesday 1st November we hosted our second Youth Action Forum (facilitated by CreateFuture) which addressed the question, "How can employers tackle the emerging mental health crisis in young people?" Around the virtual table we had representation from IBM, M&S, Tesco, Diageo, Springboard, Salesforce, Manpower, Thames Water, BT and London Youth and it created a great sense of hope to hear and see that action is already taking place across the country to support young people in reaching their career and life related goals.

However, it was also evident from around the virtual room that there are still challenges associated with funding, resources and senior leadership truly buying into this critical need and adjusting their mindset. The open roundtable discussion concluded with ideation around activities, initiatives and research to help overcome these issues and 'voting' on the best routes forward. 

Thank you to all who took part and look out for the executive summary on the Movement to Work employer community site. 

Our next Youth Action Forum will be taking place on 10th February 2023. If you are interested in participating in the next session, please contact a member of the MtW team.

Figures for this latest period see employment levels largely unchanged, a further decline in unemployment levels and, despite historically high levels, the fourth consecutive fall in the number of vacancies available. We are seeing a tightening market as businesses cite economic pressures as the reason for holding back on hiring.

Amongst the population aged 16-24, the unemployment rate decreased to 9.8%. This is below pre-pandemic levels and is the 4th lowest amongst G7 countries, beating France, Canada and Italy. Despite these figures reaching historic lows, this rate is almost three times higher than the rate for the rest of the population. 

The decline in youth unemployment cannot be explained by a commensurate rise in employment levels: there are 98,000 less young people in employment than pre-pandemic levels. Instead, the lower unemployment figures can be understood by looking at the rise in the number of people who are economically inactive.

196,000 more young people have become economically inactive since before the pandemic, an increase of 8%.