Marks & Spencer, the embattled high street bellwether, has announced a new traineeship programme for 1,000 young people. On the surface, this is a welcome shot in the arm for a UK labour market that has been flirting with fragility. But let us not get carried away. This is not charity. This is a calculated hedge against a tightening labour pool and a government desperate for good news on the employment front.
The retailer, which has been shedding stores and squeezing margins for years, is positioning itself as a solution to the 'youth unemployment' problem that periodically haunts Westminster. The traineeships, aimed at 18-24 year olds, promise real work experience and a potential path to permanent roles. Splendid. But let us examine the small print.
First, the scale. One thousand places seems grand until you consider that there are over 600,000 young people in the UK not in education, employment or training (NEET). This is a drop in a very large bucket. Second, the timing. With the government's 'Back to Work' plan under scrutiny and a general election looming, every private sector initiative is a political football. The Treasury will be delighted to point to M&S as evidence that its policies are working. But the reality is that this traineeship is likely subsidised by public funds, perhaps via the Department for Work and Pensions. Taxpayer money, once again, greasing the wheels of corporate recruitment drives.
For M&S, the arithmetic works. A traineeship costs a fraction of a full salary, and the company gets to vet potential employees without commitment. It is a low-risk talent acquisition strategy. The young people, meanwhile, get a foot in the door, but with no guarantee of a permanent seat. The programme's success hinges on conversion rates and retention, metrics that remain opaque.
We should also consider the opportunity cost. Are these traineeships in roles that truly need filling, or are they make-work positions designed to burnish corporate social responsibility credentials? M&S has been pivoting towards food and online, leaving its clothing division to shrink. If these traineeships are concentrated in the dying embers of the high street, they offer little more than a temporary stay of execution for jobs that may soon vanish.
Critics will argue that any job creation is positive, and in a market where youth unemployment has been creeping up, we should not look a gift horse in the mouth. But this is precisely the kind of thinking that leads to complacency. The government's own data shows that labour market participation among young people has fallen, with many dropping out of the workforce entirely. A thousand traineeships, while laudable, do not address the structural issues: poor careers advice, skills mismatches, and a housing market that prices young workers out of cities where jobs exist.
Inflation, meanwhile, continues to erode real wages. The Bank of England's cautious rate cuts may be too little, too late. Gilt yields have been oscillating on every whiff of data, and the bond market is punishing any sign of fiscal profligacy. The Chancellor would do well to remember that piecemeal private sector initiatives do not substitute for a coherent industrial strategy. M&S is not a charity. It is a business that must satisfy its shareholders. This traineeship is a win-win for them: cheap labour and good PR. For the young people it serves, it is a gamble.
So, welcome as this may seem, let us keep our powder dry. The real test will be whether these traineeships lead to sustainable employment, not just a footnote in the company's annual report. Until then, I remain, as ever, sceptical.
