YEG seeks youth employment policy drive

The Youth Employment Group (YEG) has launched a new paper, 'Levelling up for young people: Building an Opportunity Guarantee', which sets out a three-stage approach to improving the prospects of young people in the post-COVID economy. The YEG now brings together over 200 organisations, including BASE, to lobby for improved policy on youth employment.

Of the one in seven young people not in education or employment, the large majority (two thirds of this group and nearly one in ten of all young people) are not actively looking for work. This figure has been virtually unchanged over the last thirty years, through recessions and recovery, with young people with health conditions, disabilities, caring responsibilities and multiple disadvantages all over-represented. The ‘crisis response’ has so far neglected these groups, and the risk is that in this recovery, as with previous ones, those furthest from work continue to be left behind.

Over the past few months, the YEG has been working together to address the challenges posed by the COVID crisis on young people’s prospects.  The YEG’s new paper, ‘Levelling Up for young people: Building an Opportunity Guarantee’brings together this collaborative effort, establishing a three-stage approach which is broken down between now and early 2022.