Youth Jobs Gap webinar: Establishing the Employment Gap

22 May 2019

Samantha Windett

Youth Jobs Gap: Establishing the Employment Gap from Impetus on Vimeo.

*This blog has been re-purposed from the Youth Jobs Gap webinar.

In this blog:


    What is the Youth Jobs Gap?

    Impetus' new Youth Jobs Gap series has measured the gap in youth employment between young people from disadvantaged backgrounds and their better-off peers for the first time.

    Disadvantaged young people are twice as likely to not be in education, employment or training (NEET).

    Young people who are ‘doubly disadvantaged’ – meaning those from disadvantaged backgrounds and who have low qualifications – are being left behind.

    Even when young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have the equivalent qualifications to their better-off peers, they’re still 50% more likely to be out of education and employment in early adulthood.

    What do we know about youth unemployment?

    Previous research from our Youth Jobs Index revealed that: in a year, two million young people in the UK spend some time not in education, employment or training (NEET). Of these, 800,000 are NEET for over a year.

    What is LEO?

    Our Youth Jobs Gap series uses newly available government data aka longitudinal education outcomes (LEO) to shed light on these hidden challenges for youth unemployment. LEO uses data from the National Pupil Database, Higher Education Statistics Agency (now Office for Students), Individual Learner Records and HMRC tax records.

    Findings

    • Disadvantaged young people are twice as likely to be NEET as their better-off peers
    • The Employment Gap is consistent over time
    • London stands out for having a much smaller Employment Gap than other regions
    • Higher levels of qualification are associated with lower NEET rates, with the gap between low and middle qualifications especially sizable
    • Over time, levels of qualification have improved for both disadvantaged and non-disadvantaged young people
    • The proportion of low qualified young people who are NEET has barely changed in recent years, even though the proportion of young people with low qualification has fallen
    • At all levels of qualification, disadvantaged young people are more likely to be NEET than their better-off peers with similar qualifications

    Summary

    • Disadvantaged young people are twice as likely to be NEET as their better off peers
    • While half this gap can be explained by differences in qualification, half cannot
    • The picture varies across the country, but with bigger variation within regions than between them (coming soon!)

    Read the first report in the Youth Jobs Gap series: Youth Jobs Gap: Establishing the Employment Gap.

    Support available for schools

    Apprenticeship support

    The Department for Education fund the National Apprenticeships Service and they fund the 'Ask' programme. Amazing Apprenticeships are a partner of this programme.

    Samantha Windett is the Director of Policy at Impetus.

    Find out more

    Youth Jobs Gap: How early disadvantage impacts youth employment outcomes

    The new report 'Youth Jobs Gap: Establishing the Employment Gap', is the first in the Youth Jobs Gap series. This new NIESR and Impetus report reveals that disadvantaged young people are 50% more likely to be NEET (not in education, employment and training) than better-off peers, irrespective of their qualifications.
    Read More