South West Regional Skills Enterprise and Employment Analysis 2007/2008

Final Report

4.13 Participation and provision

4.13.5 Young people in work at 16/17

The labour market continues to provide a range of job opportunities for 16 and 17 year olds. Most of these are low-skilled, poorly paid and without training. Research undertaken by the Centre for Research in Social Policy(63) found that a young person was more likely to enter the NEET group if they had been in work without training. The opportunity of securing work with training was found to be the preferred option for those moving out of the NEET group for almost 50% of the 17 to 18 year old cohort.

Research aimed to contribute to the understanding of the training and development that employers provide to young people outside government-funded training(64) distinguished four reasons why employers recruit young people:

• Those who recruit young people to jobs because they are prepared to accept low rates of pay – i.e. young people seen as low cost;
• Those who recruit young people to train them up for a particular job, which does not conform to industry standards. Therefore conventional or government-sponsored training programmes are thought not to apply – i.e. industry non-standard development;
• Those who recruit young people to a traineeship or ‘junior’ role in order to fill some as yet undefined post in the future – i.e. non-specified development;
• Those who recruit young people to jobs because they are young – i.e. young faces associated with particular products and services.

Some employers recruited young people for a combination of these reasons (eg low cost labour while being trained to their own specification). Importantly, however, personal attributes such as ‘maturity’ and ‘motivation’ were seen by employers as being more important than possessing high-level, basic or vocational skills.

(63) Young people not in education, employment or training: evidence from the Education Maintenance Allowance database. Report to DfES by the Centre for Research in Social Policy, 2005. (RR628).
(64) The study had a particular focus on 16 and 17 year olds in employment who were in receipt of training beyond simple induction, but not involving structured day release to FE colleges and training undertaken under Modern Apprenticeships or other government-funded training for young people.