11 July 2008
Vigorous action is needed to reverse the worsening employment prospects for young people in the UK, says the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The OECD report on youth employment, Jobs for youth, says the unemployment rate for 16—24 year-olds in the UK has worsened since 2002 while the OECD average across 30 developed countries is falling.
Highly qualified young people do well finding work in Britain, but in 2005 only 45% of people who left school without qualifications, such as A-levels or five good GCSEs, were employed.
The report says the Education and Skills Bill before Parliament is intended to meet these challenges.
It requires young people to participate in education or training until they are 18. However, reforms must be fine-tuned, says the report.
The OECD's recommendations include a residential programme of remedial education and work experience for the hardest-to-place young people, and extending the 'sustainable employment outcome' in the Flexible New Deal to at least 26 weeks.
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