Sympathy isn’t a jobs plan

Alan Milburn appeared recently on The Rest Is Politics to answer questions about his upcoming report, Young People and Work. It was a frustrating listen. Milburn demonstrates heartfelt understanding of the problem and sympathy for young people stuck without education, employment or training. He has listened to them, he feels sorry for them, he praises their eagerness to work. But when it comes to solutions, the discussion focuses far more on how their benefits will change than how the work will materialise.  

To be fair, Milburn is clear that the state has left too many young people on their own. And he points out that unless employers want to hire young people, it won’t work. But when the conversation turns to detail, it is almost all about one side of that equation.  

Milburn describes how Personal Independence Payment works, how Universal Credit health routes leave young people stranded, how little of the benefits bill comes with support attached. He talks about the benefits of early mental health support, vocational rehabilitation, counselling, and a plan to get off welfare and into work. Yet using ADHD repeatedly as an example of a typical disability in young people reads, to me, as curious.  It’s almost a dog whistle to a boomer listener, rolling his eyes at Gen Z’s predilection for a ‘faddy diagnosis’. 

On the demand side, the conversation turns to a “shared national cause” for employers and government. Milburn acknowledges how much is being asked of employers, how risky it is for them to employ young people. But, there is no discussion of how employers have benefited from automating many jobs that would have previously gone to young people.  

When Sainsbury’s, for example, announced around 1,500 job cuts in 2024 as part of a drive to save £1bn through technology and automation, it expected profit growth from the start. Those are exactly the kinds of entry-level roles that young people have traditionally relied on. Why was automation not mentioned, and AI so lightly touched on in the conversation?  

I would have liked to hear less about how benefits for those on a PIP are going to change, and a lot more about how Milburn’s review will tackle the demand side of the economy. The number of unemployed people per vacancy has more than doubled since 2022. Graduate vacancies were down 49% year on year this summer. Over a third of employers say they have cut entry-level roles, and most larger firms say AI and automation have reduced the jobs available. A third of NEET young people are qualified to A-level or above.  

We all know the dangers of allowing people to spend their youth claiming benefits. But what is it we expect young people to do if the jobs aren’t there? As Milburn points out, many young people are sending off hundreds of applications, and often not even receiving a response. Andy Burnham told Labour conference that small things won’t get us through difficult times. On young people specifically, he said we will need “the same boldness for our young people too”.  

And there are bold ideas out there like A National Nature Service, something FFCC first called for in 2019 in our landmark report, Our Future in the Land. Since then, in Wales, FFCC has helped develop The Nature Service / Y Gwasanaeth Natur in partnership with more than 100 organisations. This initiative is building a national gateway into training, volunteering and early careers in nature recovery: restoring rivers, woodland, peatland and farmland. It is backed by a research partnership with the Open University exploring how every young person in Wales could have access to meaningful nature-based experience that leads into further learning and work. This is work that needs doing, in every community, that can’t be offshored or automated away, and that young people consistently say they care about. And not only this, we also know that active work, outside, is good for people’s health and wellbeing.  

This initiative has been in development for some time; it benefited from a small seed grant from Welsh Government in 2023, but has since relied on philanthropy, from Esmee Fairbairn Foundation and National Lottery. It was, however, featured in Plaid Cymru’s manifesto, so we wait with interest to see how this will be delivered.  

Perhaps Milburn’s final report will focus on how employment needs to change. He says it will cover labour market policy as well as welfare, education and health. I hope it does. If the report arrives with detailed obligations for young people and only good intentions for employers, it will say a lot about where priorities lie.

Young people have told Milburn what they want. There are big ideas out there. Let’s hope Milburn and the Prime Minister are thinking as creatively as possible about how to respond.