Money Graduates left in the cold as ‘kickstart’ targets low-paid

Chancellor’s plan to get young into work does nothing for grads, says Marianna Hunt

Aspiring lawyers, accountants and other ambitious graduates have been left behind by the Government’s new “kickstart” scheme as experts have warned it will push people into low-paid work with minimal career progression.

The Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, this week announced a £2bn package to get those aged 16 to 24 into work. One part of the policy will see the state pay the wages of young people on Universal Credit for six months. But the policy will exclude most university leavers and even those able to take part will be offered just 25 hours of work a week, paid at the national minimum wage.

Peter Cheese, the chief executive of CIPD, a human resources trade body, said: “Similar schemes in the past have floundered as employer pickup was low or largely limited to low-paid opportunities in the public or charitable sectors.” He said the same challenges were likely to face the kickstart scheme.

Michael Buckworth of Buckworths, a law firm, said graduates who hoped to work in areas such as law or finance would not benefit. “It’s focused on keeping people employed in less skilled roles, particularly those in the hospitality sector,” he said.

The Chancellor also announced grants for employers that took on new trainees. However, these too will be focused on sectors such as construction and social care as opposed to traditional graduate career paths.

Around 700,000 young people will enter the jobs market this year. Many have had their aspirations dashed as thousands of entry-level jobs and graduate scheme places have been cut. Recruitment of university leavers fell by 76pc between January and May, according to Adzuna, a jobs website. Major employers such as banks, law firms, consultancies and accountants were among the first to axe opportunities.

Britain’s final-year students have been some of the hardest hit by the crisis. While graduate recruitment fell by three quarters in this country, in France and Germany it dropped by just 28pc and 8pc respectively, Adzuna found.

This trend is reflected across Britain’s employment market, which has been the biggest global casualty, according to an index compiled by the firm. The jobs markets in France and Poland have already fully recovered, but the number of roles advertised in Britain has halved since the start of the year and a full recovery could take up to 18 months, it found.

The number of jobs available in Britain has fallen by 459,820 so far this year, a decline of 53pc. In America the number has dropped by a third and in Germany by just 6pc. Adzuna’s analysis covered 16 countries, including New Zealand, Canada, Australia, Singapore, South Africa, India, Brazil and Austria.

Mass redundancies are predicted in Britain even before the furlough scheme ends in October. Analysts at the New Economics Foundation, a think tank, predicted that one in six jobs could be lost this year, leaving 5.6 million people out of work.

The Institute for Public Policy Research, another think tank, said more than a million of those people would be aged between 18 and 24.

Rising unemployment will lead to greater competition for jobs. Already the number of applicants per vacancy is double what it was last year, standing at 25, according CV-Library, another jobs website.

‘Jobs are likely to be low-paid and in the public sector or charities’