The issue of youth unemployment is not a new one (Young, ambitious and out of work: ‘I’ve gone from Oxford to zero jobs. It’s a bit of a fall’, 11 June). When my husband and I graduated from university in 1980, it took him 18 months to find employment, not in his field of microbiology but as a trainee IT programmer. We were lucky, and that led to a successful long-term career where I had the option of staying at home with the children.

This generation is stuck with fewer opportunities and the need for at least two incomes to create the chance to build a life and a future. I know that grinding sense of despair with each rejection or, worse, the ghosting of an application.

My youngest has been through this. He has a science degree, biased towards engineering, and after hundreds of rejections he was lucky that someone saw something in him and employed him as an accounting trainee. He loves his job, but knows how lucky he is that he can still live at home.

Tony Blair’s concept of degrees for all is an abject failure, leaving debt and despair in its wake, and the rise in pension age is a logjam for those seeking employment. Without some form of government-created workplace, perhaps as a force of young carers or aides in schools, there is little hope. These poor souls are the victims of a perfect storm of false promises and the brave new world.
Margaret Carradus
Preesall, Lancashire

I support my 26-year-old son on my pension because he can’t get jobseeker’s allowance, as he hasn’t worked since graduating with a first-class degree in cybersecurity in 2022, and his grandmother left him some money, which puts him over the limit for claiming universal credit. As he’s not claiming any benefit, I doubt he makes it into the government’s statistics.

He has applied for hundreds of jobs in the East Midlands within commuting distance of home because his plan is to get settled in a job and establish a social life before moving out from home. He didn’t get to do a placement as part of his degree because of the pandemic, and cybersecurity jobs are as rare as hen’s teeth round here, so he did a government-funded data technician course online, as data jobs are relatively common, but they all ask for at least two years’ experience.

He has applied for entry-level jobs, graduate training schemes (there are very few round here) and apprenticeships. He has had only six interviews, but mostly doesn’t get any acknowledgment or feedback.

What is his future? I think that charities are missing a trick with all this unemployed talent around, and they only offer unchallenging roles in sorting clothes out or standing by a till waiting for someone to buy something. What jobseekers need is work experience that involves problem-solving, timekeeping, teamwork and a chance to make a difference so that they have something to talk about when they get an interview. My son would be capable of updating webpages, basic data analysis, and almost any sort of IT problem-solving for computer networks or software, but there are no opportunities.
Susan West
Quorn, Leicestershire

One issue not covered in your article is how Brexit is now fundamentally affecting young people’s futures. It means they have been robbed of the chance to travel freely and find work in the EU as easily as their parents’ generation could.

During the referendum 10 years ago this month, the Brexit supporters’ “war cry” about reducing freedom of movement was always a double-edged sword: it also meant Britons would lose their EU freedom of movement.

If the British government wanted to help young people, then reaching some form of agreement with the EU to give them more opportunities abroad is vital. For my part, I left the UK to seek opportunity overseas many years ago when I was much younger, and I found it. I have never looked back.
Paul Kelly
Dublin, Ireland

The low confidence, isolation, anxiety and frustration described by the young people speaking to Sammy Gecsoyler is recognisable to anyone working in employability. As your article highlights, the number of 18- to 24-year-olds selling the Big Issue has more than doubled since 2022. The Milburn review is right to emphasise that our young people want to work – but moreover, many need to work.

We know that social security alone fails to offer people an escape from poverty. Easy-to-access earning opportunities, such as selling the Big Issue, are increasingly important for people to keep their heads above water. This flexibility is critical for those facing barriers to work, such as mental health problems or caring responsibilities, a growing characteristic we’ve seen in many of our young vendors. But the grind of jobhunting and low-skill, short-term work chips away at confidence and puts up yet more barriers to work.

In an age where technology has transformed social interaction, and with a generation that endured a pandemic during their formative years, sustained one-on-one engagement with a trusted job coach is the singular most important way we can prepare young people for work. Alongside the flexible earning opportunity of selling the Big Issue, vendors can access our recruitment service, Big Issue Recruit, where our specialist coaches spend time building confidence before matching candidates up with employment opportunities. This support continues after employment, so we can help resolve any teething issues between candidates and employers.

As the market becomes more competitive, it will be those facing barriers like caring responsibilities, health issues and entrenched poverty who will miss out. Government and business alike must invest now in helping people overcome these barriers, or they’ll spend the next decade paying the economic and social price of ignoring it.
Catherine Parsons
Managing director, Big Issue