TEENAGERS are ditching old-fashioned Saturday jobs because of their fear of failure, a study suggests.

Instead of focusing on enhancing their extra-curricular record through part-time work, 16 and 17-year-olds are concentrating solely on their studies, a report by the UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) revealed.

The report showed the number of teenagers combining part-time work with study has halved from just over two fifths, or 42 per cent, in 1996 to only 18 per cent last year. Over half of youngsters said they want “to concentrate on their studies” instead of taking up a Saturday job.

Fiona Kendrick, chief executive of Nestle UK and Ireland and commissioner at UKCES, said: “It seems that young people are actively shunning the idea of working while studying, as the fear of not doing well pervades our society. Yet this could be a short-sighted tactic, as we know from employers that experience of the world of work is their number one ‘ask’ when recruiting.

“This means that millions of young people are lacking the experience of the world of work that jobs in the future.”

Figures show that the number of parttime jobs available across the economy for those between the ages of 16 and 64 rose from 7.8million in 2002 to 8.6million in 2014. However, the number of part-time jobs that young people are likely to do, such as those in the retail, hotels and restaurant sectors, have fallen from 2.43million in 2002 to 2.4million in 2014.

The number of youngsters taking part in full-time education has grown from 2.1million in 1996 to 3.2 million in 2014 – an increase of 50 per cent.

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