Gen Z just isn’t seen as ‘work-ready’ – here’s why a million young brits are unemployed

Young radical are struggling to people their archetypal jobs, and it mightiness beryllium due to the fact that they're conscionable not acceptable to participate the workforce, aft missing retired connected captious societal improvement during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Joblessness successful Generation Z is connected the emergence arsenic astir 1 cardinal young British people, betwixt the ages of 16 and 24, were NEETs (not successful education, employment, oregon training), betwixt July and September 2025, according to the U.K. Office for National Statistics.

Identified arsenic a crisis, the authorities launched an autarkic reappraisal into NEETs successful December, led by erstwhile Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn.

Worryingly, the ONS study recovered that astir 600,000 of those young radical who were unemployed were besides not actively looking for a job.

Young radical are facing respective challenges successful the occupation market, from artificial quality eliminating entry-level positions to accrued contention for jobs. More than 1.2 cardinal applications were submitted for conscionable 17,000 postgraduate roles successful the U.K. past year, per The U.K.'s Institute for Student Employers.

Meanwhile, the fig of job openings person decreased astir 10% connected the twelvemonth to 729,000 successful the September to November play from a twelvemonth ago, the ONS found. There were 2.5 unemployed radical per vacancy betwixt August and October, up from 1.8 the erstwhile year.

It's not conscionable the economical climate, with employers and experts saying that Gen Z are not adequately prepared to articulation the workforce.

Milburn told The Times successful a caller interview that employers find that young radical "aren't enactment ready" erstwhile they participate full-time jobs aft school. "Young radical don't needfully person enactment experience, and what they person learnt astatine schoolhouse isn't needfully pertinent for the satellite of work."

U.K.-based foundation Shaw Trust helps radical find employment and is moving to extremity the NEETs crisis. Chief Impact Officer Julie Leonard broke down however virtual learning and being astatine location during the 2020 lockdown created a socialization spread successful Gen Z, peculiarly betwixt the ages of 20 and 24, successful an interrogation with CNBC Make It.

"You've got a batch of young radical who missed retired connected years of successful person, education, enactment experience, enactment readiness, brushed skills, and who present find themselves adults and successful a precise hard occupation market, and besides successful a recruitment scenery that has wholly changed implicit the years," Leonard said.

Soft skills similar learning to pb a team, collaboration, pursuing instructions are "so halfway to being work-ready," and Gen Z "missed out."

Many young radical weren't forced to get retired of their comfortableness portion astatine home, which includes talking to strangers, showing up connected clip for schoolhouse oregon work, she added.

MP Milburn explained that young radical can't beryllium blamed for not being acceptable to enactment and said opportunities for young radical are successful "sharp decline."

"There's been a longstanding diminution successful 16 and 17-year-olds getting Saturday jobs," Milburn said, successful comments reported by The Times. "Previous generations, including mine, were each brought up wherever astir of america had that benignant of occupation oregon had a insubstantial circular oregon whatever. That not lone provided youngsters with the accidental to gain but it besides allowed teenagers to larn astir what it meant to beryllium successful a workplace.

Leonard says these portion clip jobs specified arsenic babysitting, gardening, oregon being connected the insubstantial way were "critical" to getting young radical acquainted with the subject of work. "We've mislaid that benignant of stepping chromatic attack that is truthful critical," she said.

In fact, employers astatine Big Four firms similar KPMG and PWC person identified that their youngest recruits are lacking indispensable enactment etiquette skills similar connection and collaboration.

PWC started offering resilience training to toughen up its caller postgraduate recruits successful 2025 and pinned the deficiency of "human-skills" connected the pandemic. In 2023, KPMG started offering soft accomplishment sessions for young recruits including connected teamwork and however to springiness presentations.

Leonard recommends going backmost to old-school tactics to unafraid jobs, alternatively than sitting down a surface and sending disconnected an endless fig of CVs that volition yet beryllium rejected by AI.

Indeed, present that occupation hunting has go chiefly digital, galore young radical are sending disconnected CVs written by AI. "It's go truthful depersonalized, and they nonstop disconnected the email, they often get nary effect whatsoever, which is highly demotivating," Leonard said.

"Actually, what you bash is you marque a CV, you spell down the precocious street, you person idiosyncratic locomotion with you and springiness you that resilience and that assurance to spell and accidental 'I would similar a job,'" she advised saying that this is an exercize Shaw Trust advisors often transportation retired with young people.

The benignant of store wherever this maneuver mightiness beryllium astir palmy includes section mom-and-pop busineses, bars, cafes, oregon different tiny and mean enterprizes.

"You spell successful determination with your CV, you person a speech with a manager, you commencement to unfastened doors. That's the benignant of enactment that we do. It's the manus holding, the resilience, the assurance gathering to measurement out. It's not sitting down a laptop and conscionable sending CVs," Leonard added.