‘It’s soul-crushing’: younger individuals battle to seek out any work in bleak jobs market | Youth unemployment

[ad_1] On any given day, Poppy Blackman is engaged within the “soul-crushing” means of making use of for a brand new job, and barely ever listening to something again.

The 22-year-old has been unemployed since January 2025 and says she applies to a median of fifty roles a month, utilizing one among 4 totally different CVs she has written for various kinds of jobs and sectors.

“I can’t be choosy with what I wish to apply for,” says Blackman, who lives in London. She studied trend and artwork design at North Kent Faculty however has given up on solely making use of inside this sector.

“Not a day goes by once I don’t apply for a minimum of a number of jobs,” she says. “It does get fairly depressing after a sure period of time, at all times doing the identical factor, trying on the identical web sites, making use of for comparable jobs. It does get a bit of bit soul-crushing.”

Poppy Blackman: ‘I can’t be choosy.’ {Photograph}: Courtesy of Poppy Blackman Blackman’s story is an more and more frequent one. Official figures present youth unemployment amongst 18 to 24-year-olds rose to a five-year excessive within the last three months of 2025. Strip out the Covid spike in 2020 and youth unemployment has hit an 11-year-high.

On a wider internet of 16 to 24-year-olds, youth unemployment is now greater than the EU common for the primary time, rising to 16.1%, the best degree together with the pandemic since 2014, when the roles market was nonetheless recovering from the monetary disaster.

The EU common was 14.9% within the last quarter of 2025. The youth unemployment charge compares with an total UK unemployment degree of 5.2%.

Former MP and minister Alan Milburn, chair of the federal government’s Younger Individuals and Work evaluate, which is because of report in the summertime, stated the rise in youth unemployment posed an “existential” danger for the UK and will put “a technology on the scrapheap”.

“This isn't a short-term phenomenon, it’s a long-term one,” he informed the BBC. “We’re seeing one thing dramatic altering within the labour markets.

“Forty-five per cent of 24-year-olds who should not in training, employment or coaching have by no means had a job. In the event you haven’t had a job by 24, that entails a long-term scarring impact and also you’re in all probability then caught in a lifetime on advantages.”

Ashwin Prasad, who runs the UK arm of Tesco, not too long ago warned that the UK was “sleepwalking right into a quiet epidemic” of joblessness, with tens of millions of individuals out of labor and on advantages.

A few of this rise in joblessness is because of companies seeking to shore up prices in more durable occasions.

Martin Beck, chief economist at WPI Technique, stated: “The financial system has been sluggish for a very long time and that tends to hit youthful individuals first, as a result of when you’re an employer and your demand is weak, you’re in all probability going to freeze recruitment. You’re not going to open up as many entry-level roles.”

Economists say that whereas there are a variety of points contributing to the rise in younger individuals being out of labor, one large issue has been rising prices for employers.

‘You hear again from possibly 10% of functions and normally it’s automated’ Oxford graduate Jack, 21 In her first price range after Labour returned to energy in 2024, the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, elevated the speed of employers’ nationwide insurance coverage contributions (NICs) from 13.8% to fifteen% from final April. The edge for NICs being levied was additionally reduce from £9,100 to £5,000 a yr.

The nationwide minimal wage has additionally risen yearly since 2019, rising by 6.7% in 2025 and by 4.1% in April 2026.

From April, the mixed price of using somebody age 21 and over can have risen by 15% since 2024, in keeping with the Centre for Coverage Research, or £3,414. For 18 to 20-year-olds, the rise is 26%, or £4,095.

The Employment Rights Act has additionally added to prices for employers, with important new rights for staff on sick pay, parental go away and zero-hours contracts.

Simon French, chief economist at Panmure Liberum, an funding financial institution, stated: “The ‘nationwide dwelling wage’ might be probably the most important issue over the past decade when it comes to its influence on youth unemployment.

“However when you then layer on prime of that the employer nationwide insurance coverage modifications, plus the Employment Rights Act, on prime of pensions auto-enrolment – that could be a lot to soak up.

“We’ve had these incremental prices being burdened on employers as whether it is only a free lunch. Effectively, I feel we’re discovering, it’s not a free lunch.”

It has all left younger individuals going through a brutal jobs market. Jack, 21, lives in London and graduated from Oxford College final summer season with a primary in historical past.

He has since utilized for greater than 100 jobs, graduate schemes and internships and – regardless of touchdown his first internship, which began in January and runs for 3 months – he's now on the job hunt once more.

He says the applying course of is gruelling, made tougher due to the prevalent use of know-how in hiring.

“You hear again from possibly 10% of functions and normally it’s automated, so that you don’t even know what you’re doing unsuitable,” he says. “I’ve spoken to at least one human out of all these functions. I’ve even been interviewed by chatbots.”

He feels trapped in what he describes as a catch-22. “Entry-level roles need you to have already got a foot within the door. The roles during which you start your profession require you to have already been in roles during which you start your profession. It’s a traditional case of the rooster and the egg,” he says. “I really feel fairly drained and fed up.”

Many graduates additionally say they're fearful about corporations utilizing synthetic intelligence to exchange jobs. Nevertheless, Jake Finney, senior economist at PwC, stated its youth employment index for 2025 discovered AI was not an enormous issue.

“We didn’t actually discover a lot of an influence on the economy-wide degree, as a result of finally, younger persons are concentrated in industries like retail and hospitality and these should not the sectors which have been hit by AI to this point.

“However when you take a look at the IT sector, which is clearly the sector that’s been most impacted by AI and automation to this point, we’ve discovered that grownup employment has been comparatively steady, whereas youth employment has dropped by round a fifth.”

Jonathan Townsend, UK chief govt of The King’s Belief, which helps younger individuals discover work, stated: “Extra younger persons are coming to us wanting to work however feeling locked out of alternatives.

“This technology has confronted a uniquely tough begin to working life. Many had their training and early work experiences disrupted by the pandemic, leaving gaps in expertise, confidence and networks which might be essential for getting a primary job.”

Saalim Elhaj now not sees himself pursuing a profession in structure. {Photograph}: Courtesy of Saalim Elhaj Saalim Elhaj, 23, has determined to be taught new expertise to discover a job. He graduated with an structure diploma in Manchester in June 2025. He moved to Southampton to be together with his girlfriend and has principally been unemployed aside from days labouring on development websites. He now not sees himself pursuing a profession in structure.

“Even earlier than ending my course, I used to be fairly disillusioned by the entire career, however principally by the financial system,” he says.

“I might see it wasn’t going to get any higher. There weren’t many roles for latest graduates. Even the yr earlier than I graduated, I might see it was stagnating. I used to be actually confused about what I’m purported to be doing on this financial system.”

After contacting some structure corporations and seeing how few jobs there have been for latest graduates, he determined to broaden his skillset and get expertise in development.

He's now hoping he can do an apprenticeship in timber framing, a standard technique of constructing utilizing heavy timber – if he can discover somebody to take him on. Within the meantime, he recurrently travels to London to volunteer with a timber framer so he can be taught as a lot as he can.

“It’s actually weird, doing a college diploma and now fascinated with an apprenticeship, however all the pieces could be very unsure and I actually wish to be taught a talent.”

Julie Leonard, chief influence officer at Shaw Belief, a nationwide employment charity, stated: “This technology has had a uncooked deal. They’ve confronted a pandemic through the time when important expertise for the office are gained, and are beginning their working lives throughout unprecedented social and technological change.”