Young people in Rotherham face a local jobs market with the fewest suitable opportunities in Britain, according to a report that warns stark regional divisions are fuelling a crisis in youth work. As ministers push to combat rising youth unemployment, the analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) showed young people faced a tougher challenge in some parts of the country to find work than in others. Publishing a new “local youth opportunity index” to track job vacancies across Britain, it said there was a sixfold gap in jobs in the South Yorkshire town compared with the more affluent Cotswolds, where there are fewer young adults but more opportunities.
Whereas Rotherham has 46 online job vacancies for every 1,000 young people, there are 288 in the area covered by Cotswold district council. Highlighting deep regional divisions, the report found nine of the 10 best areas for youth job opportunities are in the south of England. Places with job openings relative to the local youth population below the national average of 109, include East Renfrewshire in Scotland, Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, and Broxtowe in Nottinghamshire.
Cities including Sheffield, Coventry and Cardiff also ranked near the bottom of the list for youth employment opportunities. Places with the most opportunities included Woking in Surrey, Gloucester, Cherwell in Oxfordshire, and Warrington in the north-west of England. The analysis comes as ministers await recommendations from a highly anticipated report by Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into Britain’s crisis in youth worklessness.
The former Labour health secretary, who is expected to publish his findings next month before the autumn budget, has called for a policy overhaul involving education, welfare, and employment support. Britain’s young adults are bearing the brunt of a rise in unemployment, with the number of 16- to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training (Neet) surpassing 1 million earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade. Representing as many as one in eight young people, the rate has swelled at a significantly faster rate than in other countries amid a sharp rise in mental ill health and a tough jobs market.
The IPPR said its report showed that becoming Neet was not simply a question of an individual’s qualifications or willingness to look for work. It urged ministers to prioritise overhauling the apprenticeship system and to create a new “work start” programme that would fund youth jobs in areas with too few entry-level opportunities. It also called for a new “youth allowance” that would replace different rates of universal credit benefits based on work capability.
Responding to the IPPR report, David Blunkett, the former Labour education secretary, said he had first-hand experience of the challenges facing young people from growing up on a Sheffield council estate and leaving school at 16 with no qualifications. With national ambition, local leadership and the willingness to invest, we can ensure that birthplace does not determine a young person’s future,” he said.
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