A stark new report has landed on the desks of policymakers with the force of a warning shot. Within five years, one in six young people in Britain could be out of work unless we act now. The numbers are cold and clinical, but behind them lies a human story of dashed hopes and a society fraying at the edges. This isn't just a statistic. It's the sound of a generation being told that the ladder they were promised has been pulled up.
I spent yesterday afternoon on the high street in a northern town, talking to the young people who already feel the squeeze. At 19, Liam has applied for 47 jobs since leaving college. He has had three interviews. He tells me he feels like a ghost, invisible to employers who want experience he can't get. He is not alone. The report predicts that by 2028, more than 600,000 under-25s will be locked out of the labour market. For many, this will set a course for long-term precarity, a life of zero-hour contracts and anxiety.
The causes are a perfect storm: a global economy reshaped by automation, a cost-of-living crisis that squeezes opportunity, and an education system still geared towards a 20th century world of work. We are seeing a cultural shift. The old contract between effort and reward is broken. Young people know that a degree no longer guarantees a job, but they are also finding that vocational routes are undervalued and underfunded. The result is a cohort of bright, capable individuals who are losing faith in the very idea of a fair society.
What does this mean for the rest of us? A generation on the economic sidelines means a society with a frayed social fabric. We can talk about skills gaps and retraining schemes, but until we understand the lived experience of these young people, we will fail. They need more than a CV workshop. They need a reason to believe that Britain still has a place for them. Without action, we are setting the stage for a lost decade, and the cost will be borne by us all.
