Poorer youth feel career goals not achievable

The latest figures released by the Office for National Statistics show a worrying trend for youth unemployment in the UK.
 
The ONS revealed that the jobless rate amongst young people (16 to 24 year olds) stands at 20% with the trend in unemployment likely to rise and reach the one million mark.
 
Also, research released by the Prince’s Trust warns of an ‘aspiration gap’ developing in Britain’s poorest families due to lack of confidence amongst young people.
 
According to the report, based on interviews with 2,311 16-to-24-year-olds from across the UK, one in four of those from deprived homes (26%) believe that ‘few’ or ‘none’ of their career goals are achievable, compared to just 7% of those from better-off families.
 
The research, which highlights a clear aspiration gap between the UK’s richest and poorest young people, shows how more than a quarter from poor homes feels that ‘people like them don’t succeed in life’.
 
Many experts are attributing the worrying trend to an ever widening ‘skills gap’. Carmen Watson, Managing Director of Pertemps Recruitment Partnership, the UK’s largest independent recruitment company responded to the latest reports commenting, “The government needs to extend funding for education providers to get the youth ‘work-ready’ by changing their mentalities towards work and providing them with the necessary skill sets needed to break this cycle of unemployment and low aspirations”.

Last month, Chancellor George Osborne also highlighted the skills gap as a real danger and voiced his concern that the UK was falling behind other developed countries in terms of having a skilled and flexible work force; a situation that would potentially undermine any future economic growth.