UK towns with the fewest jobs for young people

Young people in Rotherham face a local jobs market with the fewest suitable opportunities in United Kingdom, according to a report that warns stark regional divisions are fuelling a crisis in youth work. The analysis from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) showed that young people face a tougher challenge finding work in some parts of the country than in others, as ministers push to combat rising youth unemployment.

Publishing a new “local youth opportunity index” to track job vacancies across Britain, the IPPR 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.

Where opportunities are scarce

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.

Responses from politicians

• 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.
• Blunkett argued that with national ambition, local leadership and the willingness to invest, birthplace need not determine a young person’s future, and that no young person should be discarded.
• A government spokesperson said the Milburn review would lay the foundation for further youth employment reform, citing a £2.5bn investment, hiring incentives worth up to £8,000, and national insurance exemptions for under-21s and apprentices under 25.

The government added that it is reprioritising apprenticeships for young people and rolling out youth hubs to every community, with the aim of creating 1 million work and training opportunities.