Youth Unemployment – a Greater Manchester perspective

Pockets of high youth unemployment in all GM boroughs

Youth population has felt the impact of the recession more so than other age groups. GM has a high rate of youth unemployment and has seen a sharper increase over the past year compared to the national average. Youth JSA in GM is both higher than the regional and national average and increasing at a faster rate and 7.0% of young people aged now claim JSA. Long-term youth unemployment is at its highest rate since 1997 – up 61.5% on July There has been a significant increase in youth ESA claimants, rising by 220 (3.5%) over the quarter and 1,490 (29.6%) over the year to February Looking at both the age of claimants and the duration of their claim, two thirds (62.8%) of year olds had only been claiming for 0-6 months, 21.8% for 6-12 months and 15.4% for more than one year. Greater Manchester overview

Table 2: Youth claimants of active and inactive benefits – Feb 2012 Source: Department for Work and Pensions (2012)

Table 3: Youth long term (12 months+) claimants of active and inactive benefits – Feb 2012 Source: Department for Work and Pensions (2012)

Youth Claimants of Inactive Benefits Lone Parents Within the age group there is a higher rate of Lone Parents claiming Income Support than across the population as a whole – over one third of all LPIS claimants in GM are aged ,450 (3.0%) of GM’s year old population are Lone Parents on Income Support, compared to 2.8% in the North West and 2.3% nationally. The highest rates are observed in Rochdale (4.0%) and Oldham (3.7%). In GM as a whole, these numbers have seen a decrease of 290 (- 2.7%) in the quarter from August to November 2011, and an annual decline of 180 (-1.7%) over the year

Youth Claimants of Inactive Benefits ESA/IB ESA claimants aged make up 1.8% of GM’s youth population, with 6,310 in this age group claiming, compared to 1.5% nationally. Rates vary from 1.3% in Manchester to 2.4% in Rochdale. There has been a significant increase in youth ESA claimants, rising by 420 (7.1%) over the quarter and 1,380 (28.0%) over the year to November The highest rate of increase was seen in Oldham (35.3%), Manchester and Salford (both 29.6%).

Youth Claimants Existing Support Job Centre Plus Work Programme Gaps in provision Focus on early years – Preparing young parents for work Sequencing of support and interventions Integrated and ‘joined up’ support for IB/ESA claimants

NW Regional Leaders’ Board research Low achievement of qualifications is not primary reason for unemployment – two-thirds of unemployed young people have Level 2 or above qualifications, half of whom are qualified to NVQ4 and above. 88.9% of those young people surveyed in this work with a Level 1 or lower qualification were unemployed. Mainly, employers favour more qualified and mature workers at all levels. Very few young people under 18 are being recruited into Apprenticeships.

NWRLB research findings – employer survey Concern around the work readiness, qualifications and education standards of young people. Very few employers feel they get enough support from government to recruit young people, with only 13.2% saying they did so. 40.7% said the government is not supporting them in the recruitment of young people and a similar proportion has not sought support. The most popular potential policy interventions options were improving education standards, offering financial incentives and wage subsidies, and work trials.

NWRLB research findings –young person survey year olds in NW – 452 interviewed “What forms of support would you find most helpful?” Very helpful: work experience; interview practice; mentoring from employers. Helpful: advice & guidance, training, CV writing Thought to be less helpful: mentoring from other young people.

NWRLB research findings –young person survey “Who do you talk to about work and careers?” No one 36% Family/Friends 33% School/university career service 26% Jobcentre Plus 19% Other 4.9% Teacher 4% Connexions 3% Next step/national careers service 1% Work club 0%

NWRLB research findings –young person survey Reasons for unemployment – a snapshot Have not found a job or course 39% No decent jobs where I live 38% Looking after children/family members 11% Need more qualifications 6% Would be worse off financially 7% Have poor health or disability 4% Haven’t decided what I want to do 3%

NWRLB research findings – review of international best practice Supporting young people into work is expensive – for stock of unemployed young people, local partners should support and add value to mainstream programmes. Addressing flow of young people very important. Robust evidence that much more can be done to ensure young people leaving education are better equipped for work. E.g. Work experience, impartial advice & guidance and employer engagement is schools.

The primary response from central Government has been the £1billion Youth Contract. Launched in April 2012, the Youth Contract consists of the following elements: o Additional support from Jobcentre Plus o Voluntary work experience o Wage incentives (work programme) o Wage incentives (apprenticeships) o Support for disengaged 16 to 17 year olds in England o Enterprise loans for young people Government response

The campaign will encourage businesses to support our young people by pledging to deliver one or more of 4 key actions: o Jobs: Recruit a young unemployed person and, where they are long- term unemployed, pick up a national grant available via the work programme. o Apprenticeships: Recruit a NEET or unemployed young apprentice, picking up the national £1,500 grant in addition to the GM Commitment grant of £750. There is also an optional work trial. o Work Experience: offer a work experience placement to a young person. o Mentoring: volunteer a member of staff as a mentor for a young person. Free training is offered to employees volunteering as a mentor. GM response – GM Commitment to Youth Employment

As part of the Manchester City Deal, it is proposed that a further 6,000 new apprentices will be employed by SMEs over the next 2 years. GM is hosting a Youth Unemployment Summit An employer engagement review of how deeply employers are currently engaged in education in GM and an assessment of the efficacy of new careers advice and guidance provision in schools is being undertaken. Community Budgets - GM’s opportunity to develop a new, pan-sector approach to these challenges to reduce cost, dependency and demand for services. S&E is key to this. Apprenticeship Hub and GM Apprenticeship strategy delivery plan GM is developing a Participation Strategy in response to RPA GM response – other work

Business Base NON-HEALTH RELATED LIFE SCIENCES: 0.8% (+18.4%) CONSTRUCTION 7% (+33%) FINANCIAL: 4.3%(17.3%) HEALTH: 13.0% (+26.0%) F&P: 16.6% (+36.5%) HOSPITALITY & TOURISM: 6.1% (+14.3%) RETAIL: 10.3% (-3.5%) MANUFACTURING 10.3% (-37.6%) EDUCATION 8.5% (+2.9%) PUBLIC ADMIN: 5.2% (+1.6%) ICT DIGITAL: 3.0% (+2.1%) KEY (1998–2008) (Source: ABI) High GrowthGrowth Decline High Decline

Return to growth to be driven by key service growth sectors, such as Professional Services

MediaCityUK £112m contracts awarded to Salford firms (23%)£259m contracts awarded to GM firms overall (54%) Over 1,500 Salford people worked on site (regularly % of total workforce) 50% of workforce from GM 12,862 people trained on the project Corridor Manchester Unique business location, at the heart of Manchester’s knowledge economy, covering some 243 hectares with a 55,000 strong workforce. It is home to two of the UK’s leading universities: The University of Manchester, and Manchester Metropolitan University - the largest academic campus in the UK Also has the Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust the Corridor is not only the but also - the largest clinical academic campus in Europe. KEY DEVELOPMENTS

Airport City The 116-hectare Manchester Enterprise Zone sits around the new strategic-scale development of ‘Airport City’. The Airport City Project will be led by the Local Enterprise Partnership, Manchester City Council and Manchester Airport Group. Airport City will cover 491,000 sq m of space and the Development & Infrastructure Framework for Airport City estimates up to 15,000 jobs could be created for the regional economy once the development is completed. Residents of Wythenshawe are the most accessible to Airport City, however there are also likely to be significant employment opportunities for people living across GM. However, this is likely to disproportionately benefit highly skilled residents, who will be able to access some of the more high value jobs available in the growth sectors at Airport City.

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