Figures out show that unemployment is at a 5 year high....a 10 year high for youngsters.
Apparently, 'tackling youth unemployment' is a key government priority. Yet they put up the minimum wage and increased employer NI contributions. What did they expect was going to happen as a result?
I'm also hearing more and more about AI reducing the number of vacancies - it's becoming an actual thing now, and not just something that people predicted was going to happen
I've seen some 16-24 year olds being interviewed. One with 200+ job applications, another with just one interview after 50 applications. People with degrees looking for work in cafes and supermarkets because that is all there is. "All we talk about is our job search' said another.
What a miserable existence compared to the carefree days of the past.
Syl said
Feb 17 11:44 PM, 2026
So true.
I am of the generation where you could leave one job and walk into another the next day.
Hardly anyone I knew went to Uni, we had worked for years before today's youngsters do a day of full time employment.
We were carefree, we had money, were contented with what we had, no labels put on us if we had a bad day...and no one worried about their sexuality, we all knew what we were.
Apparently, 'tackling youth unemployment' is a key government priority. Yet they put up the minimum wage and increased employer NI contributions. What did they expect was going to happen as a result?
I'm also hearing more and more about AI reducing the number of vacancies - it's becoming an actual thing now, and not just something that people predicted was going to happen
I've seen some 16-24 year olds being interviewed. One with 200+ job applications, another with just one interview after 50 applications. People with degrees looking for work in cafes and supermarkets because that is all there is. "All we talk about is our job search' said another.
What a miserable existence compared to the carefree days of the past.
I am of the generation where you could leave one job and walk into another the next day.
Hardly anyone I knew went to Uni, we had worked for years before today's youngsters do a day of full time employment.
We were carefree, we had money, were contented with what we had, no labels put on us if we had a bad day...and no one worried about their sexuality, we all knew what we were.