People entering the jobs market this year have the odds stacked against them

The employment figures showing the fastest decline in jobs for a decade are an obvious and troubling measure of the economic blow that many people currently face. Sadly, the numbers will get even worse as the various job support schemes end – and that will be a very difficult time for many people.

However, the hardest blow of all will come to young people – school leavers and university graduates – who

have yet to move into their first jobs.

This is monstrously unfair. We cannot choose the moment when we are born, when we start and leave school, and for those of us who are going or have gone to university, when we graduate. But we know that people who start their working life during a recession will long suffer disadvantages.

Numerous academic studies show that if you are unemployed early in your career, you are likely to bear the scar all your life, not only in financial terms but in health terms too. The government has an overall responsibility to do what it can to support the economy as a whole, in the face of blows such as that brought by Covid-19. But it also has a particular duty to help young people in the final stages of their education, both in schools and universities, and those who are about to start their careers. There are a number of ways in which it can fulfil that duty.

For a start, it can devote resources to improve the performance of public services that are within its control. The experience in Scotland over school exam results, for example, has shown that giving out blanket grades for students has resulted in unfair outcomes. The Westminster government does not have responsibility for Scottish education but it can make sure that similar unfairness does not apply south of the border.

Next, it needs to get schools back to normal, for we know that teaching online, at home imposes particular disadvantages on children in poorer families. This will require a thoughtful, non-confrontational but robust approach, taking into account the concerns of teachers and their representatives.

The government also needs to help universities get back to on-site teaching. Students learn from each other – diamonds polish diamonds – and while much can be achieved online, remote education is a poor substitute for the total experience.

None of this is easy. However, it is at the frontier between education and work where the toughest challenges lie. Here there are two broad areas where the government can help. One is at that first-job level, be it for school leavers or for new graduates. A lot of effort has already gone into trying to make sure that school leavers have a path into employment. Those efforts need to be reassessed in light of the crisis. More will certainly need to be done for university leavers. Up to now, the graduate job market has been reasonably strong but early signs are that this year will be a disaster. Recruitment is likely to be dramatically down. The government and employers need to cooperate in smoothing the path to employment. This will require innovative thinking, for there is no easy fix.

Finally, we have to recognise the lifelong impact of the pandemic on the careers, health and personal finances of people starting work or seeking to start work this year. For the moment, tackling the job crisis is akin to firefighting. But once the emergency has passed we need a measured approach to improving the outcomes for people caught by this job-market shock. That will be a task for the government but it will also be one for society as a whole.