We’ve taken part in a newly published study by the Work Foundation looking at the employment challenges facing young people. Cabinet Member for Education, Employment & Skills, Councillor Joanne Kennedy, attended a Parliamentary launch this morning. Here, Cllr Kennedy outlines what we’re doing to give young people a brighter future…
For far too many of our young people, getting on the employment ladder is difficult. Youth unemployment is one of the most important challenges facing young people today, and it’s vital that both local and national government address it head on.
We are taking a proactive, evidence-led approach, working with statutory and voluntary and community partners to better understand the barriers young people face when trying to enter the workforce.
Through our Youth Guarantee Trailblazer Programme, we are testing new and innovative ways to support young people into education, employment and training. This includes tailored mentoring, programmes linked to Liverpool specific specialisms such as the creative industries, and practical support for employers to help them recruit and retain young people, including those who are care-experienced or have disabilities.
We’re also investing directly in our young people, committing additional funding to prevent youth unemployment, providing targeted careers support in schools, and creating new roles focused on increasing participation in education and employment.
We are listening to our young people through research we commissioned through our Public Health team to really understand their feelings and attitudes towards work and their views on accessing and knowledge of local employment opportunities. The feedback is telling us we do need to provide different ways of sharing information about jobs and careers – we are looking at developing different ways for young people to access information about jobs, careers and support available
We have recruited mentors to work with our care leavers to provide hands on practical support around all things related to finding a job, confidence, travel to interviews, and wider wraparound support.
Access to financial advice is also critical, so we are providing practical support from our expert Financial Inclusion Team.
We are working with our employers to join up existing programmes of support such as the ‘Connect to Work ‘ Employment Support Programme which offers practical one-to-one support for people to move directly into work. This is specifically designed for people who have physical and mental health barriers to accessing employment and are very suitable for young people who might not have secured employment through an Internship programme, but can progress into a job and get targeted in work support to help them stay in work.
We are also finding that it’s really important to offer practical support for employers, businesses and hiring managers, so they can really understand young people who lack in–work confidence, build resilience, and offer in-work support and flexibilities that help them to stay in work.
We also recognise that, as one of the city’s largest employers, we need to play our part. So in our budget this year we announced that we would be recruiting more than 100 new apprentices to work for the council – giving young people the opportunity to kickstart their careers with us.
We’re also using our spending power – the contracts we have with businesses to deliver services or supplies on our behalf – to require them to create local jobs, apprenticeships and skills opportunities as part of a commitment to Social Value.
Working together, this is an issue we are collectively determined to tackle.
Read the report at: https://www.lancaster.ac.uk/work-foundation/news/young-people-face-jobs-drought-as-starter-vacancies-fall-by-half-in-last-decade
