Politicians, not young people, are to blame for the scale of youth unemployment in the UK, Andy Burnham has said. As part of his keynote address at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Tuesday 29 September, the Prime Minister apologised directly to a generation he said has been let down by successive governments.

Addressing the scale of youth joblessness alongside separate pledges on energy, social care and public ownership, he put the blame squarely on the state:

“It’s not their fault, it’s ours. Politicians fail to give young people the support they need as they grow up in a tougher world, and then threaten them in their 20s that they will strip away what they’re left with. How is that fair?”

Youth Unemployment Apology at Labour Party Conference

Burnham’s apology is built around a stark figure: almost a million young people are not in education, employment, or training – otherwise known as “Neets”, according to the Office for National Statistics, with the number of 16 to 24-year-old Neets coming in at 981,000 between April and June this year.

Referencing Alan Milburn’s ongoing review into youth unemployment, due to report this autumn, and committed to reform “both education and welfare systems” ahead of its conclusions, the Prime Minister told conference: “My choice is to invest in them. We will rebuild a system of comprehensive education in this country, with parity between academic and technical” – an approach that will be led by Education Secretary Lucy Powell. She’s expected to introduce technical education pathways from age 14, alongside a 45-day work placement scheme for 16 to 18-year-olds and an apprenticeship offer at 18,  presumably building on the existing Youth Guarantee, which already promises 18 to 21-year-olds access to an apprenticeship, training or work.

Rising Hiring Costs Squeeze Entry-Level Jobs

Kevin Fitzgerald, UK Managing Director of Employment Hero, has welcomed Burnham’s focus on broadening pathways for employers and employees alike, but points out that there’s still further to go:

“Britain does not have a motivation problem among its young workforce. It has a first-opportunity problem. Young people are moving towards sectors where they can build practical skills and see a future as more traditional corporate roles dry up, with Gen Z employment in construction and the trades rising 11.3% between May and August, almost three times the growth seen in retail and hospitality. They are also working unpaid to gain experience and teaching themselves skills in areas like AI because they know the goalposts are moving.

“But the cost of giving someone a first chance is rising. A full-time hire now costs employers 10% more than it did 12 months ago, meaning businesses are less likely to take a chance on a young person. This is evidenced with 88% of UK workers saying entry-level jobs are increasingly requiring one or two years’ experience.”

AI Jobs UK: Burnham’s Ambition Meets a Wary Young Workforce

Burnham’s speech also set out parallel ambitions for Britain’s standing in artificial intelligence, with hopes to put AI centre stage, make Britain “a nation trusted by others to be a global leader in AI” and an “honest broker” that will “work to develop a new global code to capture its benefits while being clear-eyed about its risks” when the UK’s G20 Summit presidency commences in 2027. 

Delivering on that ambition will mean understanding how to address the fact that the same young workers businesses need to make it happen are still working out how to feel about AI at all, let alone use it with confidence. Employment Hero’s AI Paradox report, surveying 5,454 workers and 3,290 business leaders across the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand in April and May this year, found that half of Gen Z workers feel guilty using AI to produce work, and 52% say using it to do part of their job feels like cheating. Four in ten use AI without their employer’s knowledge, and the same proportion present AI-generated work as their own.

Employers are raising the bar just as young workers are left to close the gap alone: Nearly two-thirds of UK employers, 64%, say AI has changed what they look for when hiring, with AI skills now ranking above prior experience in their top five hiring criteria. Yet 81% of young workers are teaching themselves AI through social media rather than formal training, and 23% of Gen Z don’t feel their own skills are strong enough to compete for roles that now expect them.

Kevin points out that AI is “adding pressure too: applications are easier to produce, harder for SMEs to assess and raising expectations about what junior employees should already know.”

The Milburn Review and UK Education Reform

While Alan Milburn is due to report his final recommendations this autumn, his review’s interim findings point to the fact that employers see the cost and risk of hiring as a bigger obstacle than any shortfall in young people’s ambition. 

The government’s response so far addresses one half of that problem: Chancellor John Healey’s £100m Local Apprenticeship Service, announced a day before Burnham’s speech and billed as a “down payment” on the Milburn review, tackles the training side of it. What it doesn’t touch is the 10% rise in the cost of hiring more broadly, and the experience bar keeping young people out of entry-level roles in the first place.

Whether businesses start giving young people that first chance depends on whether ministers can tackle that cost at the Autumn Budget and beyond. As Employment Hero’s UK Managing Director Kevin puts it: “The real test of today’s announcements is simple: will it make giving someone their first chance easier for the businesses that create most of Britain’s jobs?”