Why is the job market so difficult for young people?
Posted by Hot-Specific4356@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 302 comments
I have many friends and formerly myself that struggle to get jobs even with qualifications and experience why is that the case? And also why do we need 15 years of experience just to get a job that’s paying minimum wage genuinely curious not a complaint and I can imagine a lot of other people have this same issue too.
avatarman49@reddit
A very fair question. Too many young people are being asked for experience before they have been given a real chance to build any, which is why more accessible first-step opportunities matter so much.
Brilliant_Whereas503@reddit
in very simple terms, businesses don't have enough money, economy sucks
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
Why does the economy suck tho?
TheDr_@reddit
Because businesses don't have enough money
fallen_kangel@reddit
why tho
Single_Skill7652@reddit
Due to lack of growth in the economy meaning people have less money to spend on the services and products businesses provide also raises in minimum wage and national insurance rises have not helped
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
why is there a lack of growth?
Ok-Whereas-551@reddit
Why are you a massive racist?
https://www.reddit.com/r/AskBrits/s/Yy6SXZC7HM
ICantBelieveItsNotEC@reddit
Because we made it illegal to build things.
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
Did we? how so?
Milky_Finger@reddit
Again, it's political which isn't in the spirit of the subreddit.
Single_Skill7652@reddit
Read the business section on any news website
KorraAvatar@reddit
Why wasn’t this an issue in 80e and 90s when the economy was thriving and everything was dirt cheap?
Accurate_Might_3430@reddit
Because we spend all our money on houses instead of stuff.
Fruitpicker15@reddit
This is a huge part of it. The property market has caused a gross misallocation of capital over decades. It's literally draining the life out of the rest of the economy.
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
Yep, we are way too overpopulated for the supply, demand far outstrips supply, why we dont reduce demand through Deportations is beyond me.
A million foreigners have come year each year for the last 10 years
EyeAware3519@reddit
Every house in London has been converted to 4+ flats yet the prices go up and up and now each individual flat is worth more than the entire house was 20 years ago. Entire new cities have been built within commuting distance to London. Supply and demand are not the issue.
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
So what is the issue? explain it to me. Give me the exact issue
High prices are nothing more than demand outstripping supply.
If we cant increase the supply to match the demand (already building over 200k homes a year) you need to reduce supply through Remigration and deportations. 350k people have come to this country each year for the last 10 years. That demand is too high for the supply.
pretendingtowrite@reddit
How about not letting entire new developments be sold off to foreign investors before they’re even built? Might be a start.
The second half is just racist bullshit.
JiminyHF@reddit
why stifle a conversation by conflating a leisure for immigration control with racism?
pretendingtowrite@reddit
They brought up remigration and deportations almost immediately. They are clearly not interested in a good faith discussion on immigration and just want to get rid of all the brown people.
EyeAware3519@reddit
The issue is millions of people have their entire wealth locked up in their property and the government's number one priority is to ensure property prices keep on rising as doing anything that will bring prices down would be political suicide. The UK population has grown about 5 million in the last 10 years and around 2m new houses have been built, with an average occupancy of 2.3 people per home that means supply has kept up with demand.
Maybe ask your mate Nige what the real problems are next time you're at one of his rallies.
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
I agree, thats why they have imported 350k people every year for the last 10 years. To keep the prices high through artificial demand.
If supply has kept up with demand, why are the prices rising?
Cute, you think i like Nigel. Im a massive Rupert fan btw.
EyeAware3519@reddit
I don't even know who Rupert is but I am sure he will be scratching his head the same as you when all the immigrants have been kicked out and your life is still shit.
pretendingtowrite@reddit
Rupert Lowe I assume. The one who decided Nigel wasn’t being enough of a cunt and believes he can out-cunt him.
EyeAware3519@reddit
Oh, the guy who ran Southampton FC into the ground?
pretendingtowrite@reddit
The very same
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
"scratching his head the same as you when all the immigrants have been kicked out and your life is still shit."
Its a risk im willing to take. very willing.
99% of our issues is to do with overpopulation of the wrong tribes
EyeAware3519@reddit
At least you out and out admit you are just racist.
Milky_Finger@reddit
Because minimum wages went up, business rates went up, the business then had to increase prices to keep making money and everyone sees it as greed.
The economy has shrunk greatly. We are in a recession but the government cannot formally announce it at this time.
KorraAvatar@reddit
If minimum wage stayed down, this wouldn’t have happened? If I understand, it only went up because inflation went up.
Milky_Finger@reddit
Yes and inflation went up for a lot of reasons. The minimum wage is a response and not the instigator.
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
Its supply and demand, too many people want a job vs how many jobs are available.
Too many people
We need mass deportations, 350k people have come to the country every year for the last ten years
Apsalar28@reddit
Added to that the wages for a lot of people in the not far above minimum wage haven't got up at anywhere near the same rate as minimum wage so they don't have the spare cash to go out for a couple of pints once a week or stop at the cafe for a coffee and a bit of cake on a Saturday anymore
Charlie_Yu@reddit
High tax
Diligent_Craft_1165@reddit
Mods have a no politics rule so it can’t be discussed
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
Why?
my-comp-tips@reddit
We need a government that's going to invest and promote manufacturing again in this country. When I left school in 1991 I had a pick of factory jobs I could go to. Depending on the type of manufacturing, you could then train as Mechanical Engineer / Machinist or if you found the right company as a Toolmaker. Down the road from me we had Parker Pen that used to employ thousands of local people, they also had brilliant apprenticeship programmes for young people, unfortunately the company shut in 2007 and production moved. We had loads of other large manufacturing companies that have since gone from the area. Losing manufacturing doesn't help.
OddSign2828@reddit
Manufacturing isn’t the solution, the economy of developed countries moves beyond that industry naturally. It’s dying in the UK because it’s cheaper to do it elsewhere.
No_Specialist6252@reddit
robotics will mean that labour is no longer the issue. We need to bring it back
OddSign2828@reddit
…what?
escapingfromelba@reddit
It's not dying here (bar energy intensive firms) and we're still a top ten manufacturer, it's just we don't do the mass employment version of yesteryear.
Xaavuza@reddit
We're far too slow with thinga also, e.g. the new build estate I live on which is still being built was first proposed in 2006.
BunnySlippers404@reddit
The current government are changing that with a more streamlined process. NIMBYs are also having less influence as we need houses, urgently.
Cheaddar86@reddit
Exactly this, you can see it more and more the further north you go too i think, here in yorkshire we relied heavily on mining and manufacturing for our economy, but government after government have just ignored us almost entirely since the mines were closed, so beyond a handful of warehouses we just have no industry coming in to replace the industry that our towns were entirely built around.
my-comp-tips@reddit
When you don't have the industry or jobs, it just completely rips the heart and soul of towns.
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
Completely agree! relying on cheap foreign imports makes us weak overall and reliant on others.
ukdev1@reddit
Why does the economy suck tho?
One reason is because so much of our national income is spent on housing, either in the form of rent or mortgages.
Working_Assignment_8@reddit
covid plus stupid wars plus sun setting on the western dominance.
Datnick@reddit
Wages are shit because lack of competition between employers. Lack of competition exists because the environment in which they operate doesn't exist. It doesn't exist because the government doesn't create / facilitate it.
If government creates a strong incentive for companies to move in and thrive, then they will. Incentives are access to markets, tax advantages, investment etc. If there are multiple companies competing for same talent, then wages will rise naturally.
Government needs to spend more money on incentivising competition in a market. UK government just doesn't do enough of that. It does like welfare spending
Total_Rules@reddit
Lack of disposable income and low productivity.
4nn4s3@reddit
Thing is I have a lot of international friends, they all say the exact same thing about their countries. The economy can’t be bad everywhere surely😂
Logical_Strain_6165@reddit
The economy is doing great. It's just the wealth is being concentrated in the hands of fewer people.
No_Specialist6252@reddit
You don't understand business. At all.
ShortyRedux@reddit
Happy to hear your explanation on why Logical Strain is wrong then. Certainly seems like lots of companies see increasing profits and yet pay can't even compete with inflation over a given period. You'd think that would be the least they would do.
No_Specialist6252@reddit
Clueless. Most business are small, and most are struggling. Nearly every tax is up, business rates are shooting up. Most businesses are trying to keep their heads above the water.
Hospitality businesses right now are struggling big time. The economy is not doing great, it's doing ok for now and if things continue then it'll start to sink.
ShortyRedux@reddit
You don't speak to my point at all; you just highlighted there are also a lot of failing businesses. But no one said there aren't failing businesses. Logical Strains main issue was the concentration of wealth in the hands of the few, that many super rich people are getting even richer, that many corporations are making record profits, meanwhile the people working for them live worse and worse lives.
I don't know how you ignored all this. But to be honest, I think you're probably a small businessman or aspiring small businessman and so, like everyone else, you have personal reasons for seeing things how you do and being unable to see what you can't.
Anyway, capitalism is self-correcting, so if these businesses are struggling isn't that just the invisible hand of the market slowing mopping up things we don't really need or want anymore?
No_Specialist6252@reddit
You said pay isn't keeping up with inflation and seems like lots of companies see increasing profits, well no, most companies in the UK aren't increasing profits.
That's incredibly far from the truth and it shoes you don't understand business. What is happening is wealth is being extracted from the UK by the likes of Google, Amazon, Microsoft. Big tech is a problem. The S & P 500 is a problem.
All of our pension money is being put into the S and P, and into the big 7. People are no longer investing in the UK economy and that is a big problem.
We are also running the welfare budget on limited resources. We don't have the money to waste on such unproductivity. Not to mention the increasing pensions and paying off our debt interest.
The problem is governments have spent beyond their means, sold off our assets and are taxing businesses through the roof to pay for it all. This is why young people aren't being employed.
ShortyRedux@reddit
Overall, the amount of money being syphoned up by the wealthy has increased and our share has gotten small. At the same time, wages have failed to keep up with inflation for the past 15 plus years, with a slight easing of that (how temporary, who knows--probably very with the current economic situation) in the last few. This is what the data bares out. I feel like you're just fixated on small businesses, perhaps because your own small business is failing to make a profit.
I don't think your post to engages seriously with the issues and instead becomes a series of projections. Small businesses are struggling. It's the fault of big tech. There's no money for benefits--which you describe as unproductivity, but of course, they're actually disabled people so I find this way of referring to them slightly concerning. They're on benefits so they don't die and become homeless and ultimately cost society more or cause us to fall into a depressing and miserable culture where the disabled die on the streets.
The government has sold off our assets, but of course, the government are primarily rich business owners or adjacent to rich business owners themselves. There's plenty of money out there, the real problem is the government is run by the same people who need to enforce a wealth redistribution downwards (instead of the upwards wealth redistribution they've engaged in for the past century).
Outside-Newt-897@reddit
That's one problem. Another problem is that when the UK cut economic ties with Europe, it had a negative effect on the UK economy
ICanDanceIfIWantToo@reddit
You are making an assumption our politicians wouldn't have messed up with us in the EU
Spoiler....they would
Logical_Strain_6165@reddit
I mean I was very much remain, but I still agree with you.
No-Pack-5775@reddit
Yeah Bezos and Musk have no complaints!
Logical_Strain_6165@reddit
Exactly. And as the wealth gets concentrated it's not circularated as much around those who need it.
SousukeUK@reddit
True that!
Economy working exactly the way its designed to work!
Extract the maximum value for the person who has the wealth to invest in it!
I don't know why people keep saying Economy is not working!
kayzgguod@reddit
contradicts
SeoulGalmegi@reddit
The economy for regular people is pretty shit everywhere.
There are no doubt some countries still developing and improving living standards, but for most of the developed world improvement is stalling and in some cases reversing - kids are in worse conditions than their parents and wealth is being hoovered up by a smaller number of people at the top.
Some technological improvements (bigger TVs, smartphones etc.) can mask this and make life seem better, but on lots of important metrics it's really not.
f1boogie@reddit
The issue is, that the vast majority of the worlds money is owned by very few people. When the economy is in such a way that they don't see profit, they stop investing. Then everyone else suffers.
Full-Measurement4927@reddit
Yeah when wasn't it though, have a hard time believing that's the sole reason if it's always been the case.
ICantBelieveItsNotEC@reddit
Pretty much every developed country has exactly the same problem: a declining birth rate and an ageing population. Each year, there are more old people who need to be looked after, and there are fewer young people available to actually do the work. Each young person has to contribute a bigger portion of their own income to support the old, which means they end up with less money available for discretionary spending, so businesses that aren't involved with the supply chain for essentials are fighting over a smaller pie.
There's no economic system in existence that can survive if people just decide to stop having babies. Demographics are destiny, and we're probably going to suffer in one way or another until the birth rate stabilises in the
Amistreem@reddit
"Fewer young people available to actually do work" .Yet here were are discussing why young people find hard to find ANY job. The main issue is like many said - rapidly increasing wealth inequality. People afford less, less spending overall , less jobs. While rich getting richer, buying all the assets keeping asset prices high and even less affordable for the rest .
KorraAvatar@reddit
It’s cycle.like the chicken and the egg. People are not having kids because they’re unaffordable:
Admirable-Wedding-35@reddit
History repeats itself and we’re currently in Spring of 2008
Salaried_Zebra@reddit
Only difference is, there was a sense of optimism in late 2007. There wasn't this time. I can't really think of a single thing that's got better since then.
dragodrake@reddit
Up until recently the job market in the UK was fairly significantly better than a lot of other places. Unfortunately that's no longer the case.
5lutty5@reddit
That’s because history repeats itself and we’re currently in the Spring of 2008
St3ampunkSam@reddit
The top 1% hold a higher % of wealth every year. That means the bottom 99% end up with less money or money that is less valuable each year. Thats is aslo disproportionately spread so they those in the 2% lose less than those in the bottom 50%.
Basically the rich are getting richer by stealing everyone elses money not by actually making more of it.
Sorry_Information749@reddit
Drug_Taker917@reddit
Have you never heard the term "global recession" before?
Dolgar01@reddit
It can.
kersplatttt@reddit
Not quite true. Plenty of businesses have lots of money, but they are run to ensure the executives get to suck more and more money up to the top, and to deliver shareholder value (by reducing staff whenever possible)
mrbill1234@reddit
They are businesses, not charities.
ChrisE1313@reddit
Also, hundreds of applications submitted within the first hours when the job ad gets posted.
RHMoaner@reddit
Businesses have enough money. They don’t want to give people any of it. That’s the problem.
Sea_Pattern_9792@reddit
A mix of a stagnating economy in the UK, underinvestment from the government since 2008, late stage capitalism and excess immigration. There seems to be a big disparity though as there are young people mainly concentrated in the south east that work in law, tech, finance who are always doing well and the rest of the 99% of young people who struggle to break £30k per year
Nandor1262@reddit
Excess immigration is not an issue
EvidenceDifferent306@reddit
Such as? All critical industries are majority white British. Low skilled immigrant workers are a detriment to the British economy and cost more over their lifetime than they contribute
Nandor1262@reddit
People working in factories, people working on farms, drivers, care assistant, tonnes of people in the NHS. They pay tax, end of.
EvidenceDifferent306@reddit
Paying tax doesn't mean you aren't a net drain on the economy overall lol. As I said this is the case for low skilled labour which is the principle part of immigrants in this day and age
EyeAware3519@reddit
I think some of the issue is minimum wage is too high. A high minimum wage is not a bad thing but when you are paying decent money for an entry level job that requires no experience then you'll have older people with experience applying for it too. When I got my first job 30 years ago before minimum wage was a thing I just walked into it, the pay was terrible though £2.11 an hour (£4.38 an hour in today's money) and no-one who had a better option would have done that job.
OkConsideration5272@reddit
But housing was so much cheaper too.
EyeAware3519@reddit
That's not the point. Back then entry level jobs were £2-3 an hour and jobs you needed a little experience for were £5-10 an hour. Now both of those jobs will be paying minimum wage or only slightly above it, there is no motivation to do anything more than an entry level role.
I'll use my situation as an example. I was washing up in a restaurant aged 16 for £2.11 an hour, after a few months I started waiting tables, as that has more responsibility I got a pay bump to £2.75. If I had stayed there a bit longer I could have been given further responsibilities and more pay rises.
Today every role in that restaurant would be paying the same so if you want a new pot washer you can pick from people who have years of experience in the restaurant trade as they aren't taking a pay cut do do a job with less responsibility.
It also means that the business owner is investing heavily in a 16 year old pot washer so they have to be more picky.
EvidenceDifferent306@reddit
You can barely live on minimum wage. In fact it's not high enough. Being on minimum wage in the UK means you cant run a car, you can't save to look for better prospects elsewhere and you are one unforeseen expense away from being plunged into debt
leodoesgaming@reddit
minimum wage is not even enough to rent one room in some random persons house
ukdev1@reddit
Arguably that's a problem of expensive housing, not a minimum wage that is set too low. If we could reduce housing costs by 50% there would be plenty of money for the real economy.
leodoesgaming@reddit
I mean doing either would achieve the same thing surely
PrestigiousProduce97@reddit
Not necessarily, one method is inflationary and the other is deflationary. If you raise wages and increase labour costs businesses will be forced to take losses or increase prices. Price increases raise cost pf living for everyone else, eventually negating the originally intended effect. If businesses accept losses they will have less money to invest, innovate, expand and hire so the economy will slow.
Lowering the cost of housing on the other hand simply means the same paycheque will have more wiggle room. The price of most everything else will remain constant (in theory) and you avoid an inflationary spiral. Most problems in the UK economy can be routed back to high housing and energy costs.
ukdev1@reddit
And government could lower the cost of housing by removing many of the regulations around building. A local brownfield site near me has had £Millions spent on trying to get permission to build in a location where 95% of people (the 5% being the direct NIMBY houses) think it would be a great idea. They want to build eco homes, with solar, car chargers, community space, etc. But one part of the planning approvers want the entrance road moved, another insists its can't be moved, the police want well lit areas, but the environment want it dark, etc. etc.
kayzgguod@reddit
it is enough though lol
leodoesgaming@reddit
how? you literally can't live anywhere
EyeAware3519@reddit
You missed the point as well, see comment below.
leodoesgaming@reddit
I have read it, but I still think any job with full time hours should give you enough money to like not die at least. we'd have a lot less homeless people
EyeAware3519@reddit
Oh yeah completely agree, it's supposed to be a living wage, not a minimum wage. No-one can actually live on minimum wage even though it's relatively high. Business shouldn't rely on the state to top up their shitty pay.
ickysock@reddit
i don't think the problem is that minimum wage is high (because it isn't lmfao) but other wages are low. £30k isn't minimum wage but it also isn't a lot of money, you'd struggle to live on it by yourself. wages have not kept up with inflation at all, especially post-covid, and it is starting to have a real effect.
your point about keeping minimum wage low so more qualified people don't apply for jobs that are minimum wage is untrue because so many of us have Master's degrees and experience and cannot find anything above minimum wage. we have to apply for what is available. hell, my new job is part time so in a year i make less than minimum wage, but i spent 7 months applying for full time minimum wage jobs and didn't get hired. the part time job is the first one that offered me a position so I had to take it. I went to one of the best universities in the country, which is also top 10 globally. the only problem with minimum wage is it isn't a living wage.
EyeAware3519@reddit
You're getting the wrong end of the stick, I am not saying minimum wage is too high I am saying there are too many jobs paying minimum wage or not much more. We are both saying the same thing.
ickysock@reddit
you said the issue was that minimum wage is high. it isn't high, other wages are low, and in low supply. most of what we're saying is the same thing but i'm not saying minimum wage is high because it isn't.
EyeAware3519@reddit
True, it's not high but it is higher than it was and that's why getting an entry level role is becoming more difficult which was the question asked. Ideally wealth should be distributed evenly but rich people like being rich so what can you do?
Polz34@reddit
As a manager of admin/office support (for over 10 years) my genuine experience of anyone under 25 years old has been:
- they don't interview as strongly as more experienced people do
- they don't really know what they want to do so don't seem 'bothered' about getting the job
- if they are employed they either - move onto another role (either internally or externally) within a year
- they take longer to train and I've had 2 people in the last 5 years under 25 years old who both took more than average sickness and then one of them went off with mental health and never came back (they then took a job at the council with someone I knew and did the same exact thing)
Brocolli123@reddit
I'm 26 and still interview poorly and dont know what I want to do lol but having been unemployed a year I'll take most non customer facing jobs at this point
Scarred_fish@reddit
This is an often unspoken thing but an undeniable observation.
In the past, young people were the most reliable as they were keen, loved earning money, and generally wanted to learn and help.
We take on 4 apprentice engineers every year, and of the past 4 years recruits, only two still have jobs,
To be clear, this is in no way saying these issues are not real or significant, but they were never a factor before and now there is no choice but to bear them in mic when choosing an employee. Attendance is the absolute top priority.
Effective_Topic_4728@reddit
It's too easy these days not to work. Too many people, especially young people aren't serious so the rest tend to get tarnished with the same brush.
Scarred_fish@reddit
You are so right. And this is my argument every time we come around to hiring time (which is next month so this is fresh).
We could just hire a couple of older possibly retired engineers even on a part time basis who would be much more relaible and productive. But where does that leave us in 10-20 years time.
You just have to hope you get one keen individual who wants to learn and progress. Money isn;t an issue, our engineers apprentices start on 29k and we can even provide free accomodation while they get their stuff sorted if they need to move.
This isn't just a thing here either. One of my collegues who retired a couple of years ago is now working at a nearby dairly loading milk for two hours every morning. They used to traditionally employ teenagers as a pocket money job before school, but have given up on it because they were too unreliable.
When I was working before school at 15 I was "fuck yeah, give me the money, I'll be in at 4 if you'll pay me!"
Hot_Wonder6503@reddit
29k lol
Scarred_fish@reddit
Care to expand?
We feel this, plus the extras as detailed is competitive and realistic for 16-18 year olds beginning their training. All college travel and accomodation etc is covered too as is standard.
Effective_Topic_4728@reddit
The youth of today: we need jobs
Also the youth of today: £29k? Pfft. I don't get out of bed for that.
M_M_X_X_V@reddit
£29K today is not the £29K of 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. In a big city like London rent alone could burn through 40% of that and then there are grocery bills and all the other bills that only ever go up and up and up.
Scarred_fish@reddit
I started work in the 80s. That meant 3-4 people sharing a bedsit 'till mid 20s, with the dream being able to rent a one bed flat by 30 if you were lucky enough to have a partner also on a good wage. Rent always gobbled 50% or more of your wage but anything is better than being stuck at home.
Buying a home was never a vague possibility for anyone my age until whatever happened to the economy from 2010 onwards that made it potentially viable.
That is the reality.
Hot_Wonder6503@reddit
Total bs
House prices have risen much faster than wages over the long term. In the 1980s, an average house might have cost £20,000–£60,000 with salaries around £7,000–£10,000+. Today, average prices are £270,000–£290,000+ with salaries around £35,000 (individual) or higher for households
Scarred_fish@reddit
Never fall for believing statistics.
I was there, I know what we could and couldn't afford. None of the amazing schemes young people have avaliable to them today were around, no minimum wage, nothing.
I was mid 40's in 2014 before owning a home became even a vague possibility.
My daughter is 22 and already 4 years into paying off her flat, with absolutely no help from us (as it we could! lol).
Real is real, online statistics and daily mail tinfoil hat boomer bollocks isn't.
Effective_Topic_4728@reddit
So you would rather be unemployed would you?
M_M_X_X_V@reddit
Absolutely not - but that isn't the point. £30K is a very good salary comparatively even if it doesn't go far anymore. There are people with advanced degrees who are on minimum wage if they are lucky or who are completely out of work despite applying to hundreds of jobs.
My parents who didn't finish 6th form could buy a house aged 21. The capitalist system is broken.
Scarred_fish@reddit
I mean, if that's what u/Hot_Wonder6503 really meant then I don't know what else you could do.
dreamingOnion@reddit
Sorry for spying on your Reddit history, but my guess is that the job location (Shetland) is the problem here lol. It's a really tough ask for a 16 to 18 years old straight out of school to leave their mates and family and relocate to the northernmost region of the UK, certainly not for 29k, which isn't even in the top 10% of the 18-21 salary bracket.
Young engineers who have strong technical skills and an eagerness to learn know their worth, especially when they can simply switch to a more lucrative industry. A friend of mine who graduated with an engineering degree got a 28k offer that required relocation. It was a good opportunity, but he simply rejected it and changed career paths to finance/software. Fast forward to today (\~a decade later), and he has multiple six-figure job offers in hand.
Unless your job has high pay and a strong career trajectory similar to oil rig workers in the US, I doubt you can hire anyone decent lol.
Wonderful-Bed-9848@reddit
Your “undeniable observation” is that young people used to be reliable, now attendance is your top priority, and therefore they’re inherently less dependable. By your own logic, you’ve just admitted that the metric you care about most isn’t skill, ambition, or learning potential it’s how easy it is to control someone. Young workers leave, move up, or have options?
Scarred_fish@reddit
What?
That's just gibberish.
Bad bot.
Grommmit@reddit
I’ve worked in head-office at the same household name for 10+ years.
The grads used to be the most keen people there.
It has become a huge cliche, but after Covid they’re so much more entitled on average.
You might say all power to them, and you’d be right, but I know which ones I’ll be offering a permanent position to in my team!
Wonderful-Bed-9848@reddit
your so called “cliché” observation is nostalgia for a time when people had fewer options and were easier to exploit. You literally admit you’ll decide who gets a permanent job based on personal preference rather than merit, which by your own logic is exactly what you’re complaining about.
Nandor1262@reddit
So you’re saying you are actively discriminating against people for their age?
If you this sentence was “this is my genuine experience of anyone black” or “this is my genuine experience of anyone female” you’d be rightly called out for it. Just because people are in the same age range doesn’t make them all the same.
Polz34@reddit
If I was 'actively discriminating' I wouldn't even be interviewing or hiring them. Take a seat.
Nandor1262@reddit
What a load of rubbish. You’ve stated some negative things which have happened regarding a few individuals and suggested the defining characteristic leading to that happening is that they’re under 25, that is unconscious bias.
Matthew94@reddit
Nandor1262@reddit
They’ve not spotted a ‘trend’ what they have is some anecdotal evidence that they’ve wrongly attributed to being related to age. Each individual in that group probably has their own thing going on which could affect anyone at any age.
Matthew94@reddit
Don’t form any opinions based on your experience unless it is backed up by at least three (3) top-tier journal papers.
Nandor1262@reddit
Don’t take a sexist, ageist or racist opinion into an interview with you when hiring someone. It’s against the law
Matthew94@reddit
lmao
kaetror@reddit
Is that not a no brainer though?
Someone under 25 will genuinely have less experience, so has less to talk about.
And if I've learned anything about interviewing over the years it's that bullshittery skills matter far more than anything genuine. It's the people who can talk the most bollocks to self aggrandise that get jobs/promotions, not the people who can do the job well.
Someone who is young will not know that, they will not bullshit well enough to get hired.
Personally I hate the interview format; high pressure sit down with unknown questions that you have to guess to try to predict your answer, which just encourages bullshittery instead of finding ways to dig down past it.
Utilitarian_Proxy@reddit
I worked in recruitment. The broad consensus was that young people tended to be more argumentative and unable to follow procedures. Obviously that isn't always the case, but it seems to be a common theme. By comparison, older people also struggle to find jobs, and are typically seen as inflexible and lethargic.
mrbill1234@reddit
Too few jobs, too many people. Supply and demand.
gamkottop@reddit
That’s tautological
Charming_Case_7208@reddit
Seen far too many people deny this.
Aromatic-Board7842@reddit
a.i. and the greed of the upper class and people in government who are so deluded they think they aren't the genuine problem
soltonas@reddit
I have 10 years of experience after uni, though, I find it extremely hard finding a job. Last year I applied to just shy off 300 positions, and I applied to jobs that I could do (80%+ match the requirements), but I only had an interview with a single company, and I was overqualified in the end. I am working in tech
coastalkid92@reddit
Based on what I've gone through with hiring, without getting into it too much, I think its a two fold issue.
First being that the talent pool is a lot bigger than it has been before. There are tons of very qualified people coming out of uni and then if they can't secure work, they're pursuing master's degrees or higher. So there's lots of very educated people entering the labour market.
The second being that a lot of companies are trying to streamline operations so they're asking more from junior level roles but they're not adjusting salary expectations to align with that.
MaltedMilkBiscuits10@reddit
There is definitely too many people going to uni.
When I worked for a large supermarket we had people applying with degrees in trivial things like radio and people with masters in art. They'd type it up glowing on their CV, but it would mean absolutely nothing. Degrees like that are extremely limited and offer very little to your broader employment prospects unless you have a very specific job lined up but those jobs typically have an extremely slow intake due to limited jobs.
In the end I just wanted someone who could fill a isle, not be highly educated in a million types of fungi.
Because of how many people go to uni, you basically got everyone applying for a job as a receptionist with a full degree in business. It's makes no sense. A degree with tens of thousands of debt just to deal with really entry level stuff.
It used to be the case that uni was for the really talented, people who have the required abilities to fulfil really high end jobs and I think degrees are definitely treated as someone with GCSEs or O levels back 20-30 years ago. It seems like it's the new minimum of education.
On the otherhand I used to employ more on the side of experience, personal presentation and I hate to say it, background. Id favour people I'd feel would be more a longer term investment, with retention. I didn't favour university educated people or students as I knew the likelihood they'll stay for long wasn't great. Id favour someone from a less advantaged person knowing they were to stay and work their ass off as they need the money or a older person who's just looking for a few hours whilst kids are at school.
Wonderful-Bed-9848@reddit
So let me get this straight, you openly admit you prefer people with fewer options because they’re easier to exploit and won’t leave. You avoid hiring anyone who’s capable, ambitious, or educated because they might actually have standards or leave for a better life.
You even say degrees used to be rare and only for the “elite,” but now that more people can actually improve their lives, suddenly that’s a problem. No one needed a degree to stack shelves no shit. That doesn’t make degrees useless, it just means you were hiring for a job with zero progression and low skill requirements. You judged the value of education based on the one role where it’s least relevant.
So the less options someone has in life, the more valuable they are to you. Got it. Remind me to never apply to your shitty work place.
VreamCanMan@reddit
A degree does communicate a desire towards upwards mobility and a circumstance of familial support that makes this achievable. It shouldn't be surprising that for low prospect low skill low wage employment this isn't desired in a candidate because it implies flight risk.
Maybe this attitude will diminish with time as it becomes more common to hire and retain people with degrees, although I somewhat doubt it
Dull_Reindeer1223@reddit
Some jobs just don't require a high level of education. Even these roles need to be filled and constantly replacing people is a headache and a challenge.
If you had a business that needed a cleaner for example (using a cleaner because for most cleaning jobs I imagine you don't need a degree), would you prefer to have a cleaner that stays with you for a few years and knows what is expected, the standards required, where things are etc, or would you prefer to hire a new graduate every month that isn't happy with the role?
Matthew94@reddit
Aisle
GrabbedByTheGhost@reddit
Hehe
batteryforlife@reddit
I understand your logic, but fungi scientists also need to eat and pay rent. And thanks to the big rush to get everyone to go to uni, its not just people with well off parents that went on to higher education. In sum; we are all fucked.
Logical_Strain_6165@reddit
It's a stupid tend that's been going on decades and also now means some jobs require a degree, which don't really.
I have a degree in outdoor education. At least I used it for a good few years, but it didn't need a degree.
norvalito@reddit
And AI. You can now do a lot of things with AI that you would have previously got junior recruits to do. So there's not as much need to hire at the entry level end.
pogadog@reddit
I think AI is being touted by AI companies as replacing jobs to juice their stock more than its actually being used to replace jobs, the jobs that can be automated were kind of already replaced with automated systems anyway, just dumber ones that used less graphics cards while they were all mining crypto.
coastalkid92@reddit
I think that's really role dependent. For the line of work I'm in, you can't really rely on AI beyond it helping with some basic data analysis but you do need to be able to rely on people having strong research and interpretation skills.
EngineeringCockney@reddit
I actually think its the opposite to some degree. There are more people but the talent and experience has dropped significantly.
I work in engineering and there is a sev
Wonderful-Bed-9848@reddit
Or maybe you’ve just forgotten what you were like fresh out of uni. Be honest were you actually competitive, or just another average grad figuring it out and hoping no one noticed?
Every generation thinks the next one is worse, meanwhile you probably needed years on the job before you were even remotely useful. Now suddenly you’re the benchmark? Come on
EngineeringCockney@reddit
I did an apprenticeship befor i went to uni
textboy@reddit
Partially true.
A lot of companies are also abusing foreign work visas, where part of this is that they need to "prove" they can't find the required talent in the UK. This is why you get so many positions with ridiculous & unrealistic requirements.
Companies have a ton more leverage over people whose continued residency is tied to their employment.
ghosthud1@reddit
I recently applied for a customer service role with LLoyds bank. 1 hour long assessment that involved Ai.
It was dominated by Ai.
By the end, I was given a score sheet with an Ai generated video and summary of everything.
Basically judged me as an emotionally unintelligent 33 year old man with no matching experience.
Spat me out and it did not progress.
Whoever sat these executives down in a board meeting and convinced them to integrate this Ai, my hat goes off to you.
They’ve won big time.
I have 10+ years in multiple fields.
SuccessfulIce1081@reddit
That's the most dystopian thing I've heard of... WTF, I'm so sorry you had to experience that :(
ghosthud1@reddit
It’s actually quite looking back 😂 I got a 90 second video.
Giving me a 3/5 for emotional maturing haha, it’s so dystopian.
Infamous_Tough_7320@reddit
Over qualification crisis of the UK is one of the biggest issues
Relative_Noise_7084@reddit
It was like this when I graduated in 2018, I'm from a shit Midlands industrial town with no opportunities and couldn't land anything. You needed mummy or daddy to give you a foot in the door but my family was all unemployed/working class. I moved to east asia to teach english bc there were no opportunities in the UK for me, I don't know why people have only started talking about it more recently.
linkstinks@reddit
i just saw a cleaner job (part time 0 hour contract) that asked for three years experience LOL
FragranceBurn@reddit
Night Shift Cleaner at Nando’s, Part Time, 0 Hour contract, it required 5 years of experience. I have my eyes closed and smiling at the thought of that
Deepdreamszx@reddit
Because an education and bits of paper doesn't guarantee a career full stop, regardless of whether it's in the career you want. It's the brutal reality that most jobs are gained through nepotism and who you know, not what you know and to assume you can walk out of university into any job is delusional. Jobs are out there, it just means doing jobs you believe you are better then, when the reality is you were just made to feel you were.
kailyuu@reddit
A plunge in job availability.
The hiked national insurance & higher min wage & the AI wave & the war & the energy crisis make many companies withold any hiring plan. Even if companies are hiring the number they hire is much less than before
At the same time the number of young graduates remain the same so there is a clear oversupply of those looking for jobs compared to jobs available.
Late_Common341@reddit
I was thinking on moving from Canada because our job market is bad. Is UK really that bad? My family owns a farm 1 hour outside of London so I have living arrangements arranged
Ready-Fox-3264@reddit
Offshoring and near-shoring has been going on for a while and many roles at UK businesses are now performed by people based outside the UK.
Activities that have traditionally required an in-person interaction or appointment happen online and therefore fewer employees are involved in these activities.
There has been a huge drive for automation and many tasks that previously required an entire admin role have been reduced to a few clicks of a button.
I can’t speak for the rest of the country but in London in particular minimum wage jobs at clothes shops and supermarkets have unfortunately been lost to kiosks and self-checkouts.
And since people don’t have enough disposable income, there also aren’t many hospitality jobs available since there aren’t that many people to wait on. This is also tied in with the trend towards healthier living so drinking and smoking which previously used to be a way of socialising with peers are seen as undesirable habits by the younger generation.
And of course, a surplus of highly educated workforce. There won’t be enough vacancies for everyone who is graduating from university and people need to be more creative with how they acquire skills and how they showcase these skills.
It’s too expensive to hire younger employees. This should be viewed within the context of capitalism- you pay for skill and experience so if the minimum wage for an 18-year-old is deemed too high for the return a business might be getting from them, the business will be unlikely to hire them. But even that’s a moot point because employer’s National insurance contributions have increased as well, which makes it even more expensive to hire at the entry level.
In times like these the economy is less likely to grow because there’s uncertainty and no one likes planning for the future when things become so unpredictable.
RippledBarbecue@reddit
But given how poor the youth employment market is atm, what if a large portion of those going to uni chose not to? Wouldn’t that just lead to a bigger surplus of candidates/unemployed young people sooner since there’s already not enough jobs
Ready-Fox-3264@reddit
You’ve highlighted a couple of issues with the current structure where, first, universities delay the inevitable joblessness that some kids are going to face one way or another and, second, the constant push for increasing the number of graduates has made their degree one of many requirements stated in most professional job descriptions, even when the degree subject or classification are unspecified.
The education market will inevitably shrink if fewer teenagers decided to pursue higher education and if no options other than a degree were introduced, so it’s a difficult act to balance, but it has to be addressed. If someone didn’t feel like completing a Bachelor’s degree or ruled out attending university altogether, we need to ensure there’s an alternative path to follow. It’s unclear what that path might be at the moment.
Separate to this is our way of life. We’re aging and we aren’t having as many children as before. There’s then a huge demand for care workers to look after our elderly because we’re also intrinsically individualistic and ‘alone’. We shop online more than ever before and someone has to deliver our purchases. Many healthy young people won’t choose either of those jobs even when another isn’t available. While it’s obvious that those jobs aren’t ideal and may be underpaid, it’s wise to acknowledge the fact that it isn’t and shouldn’t be possible to land a role paying the national average at the age of 22. Our expectations need to be recalibrated to match with the demands of what appears to be a transitional stage in history.
pogadog@reddit
i dont know where you got idea young people dont choose delivery and care jobs, both are some of most popular jobs. ONe of problems with care work, as I know people who worked it, is that they mass hire agency workers from other places for temp work as they're cheaper and have less working rights. They'll take a much lower salary than equivelantly qualified person would expect here [rightfully, as gets more for the family back home]. I've heard some stuff about delivery drivers having similar issues but was just heresay so not sure if accurate for those. But uber/delivery driver type gig work jobs young people jump at, especially students.
Ready-Fox-3264@reddit
I could very well be wrong but the government's own research doesn't seem to fully support your claim with regards to adult social care. There's a link to their published report from September 2025 below. There are parts of the UK where nearly half of the care homes available find recruitment challenging. They can't find people with the right skills, or anybody at all, who they could hire locally.
The top three skills applicants lack are (1) interpersonal communication, (2) the ability to speak English (the majority of successful applicants and those who stay in the role long-term continue to be international, and that works in our country's favour but it raises questions you and I don't have the time to answer right this moment), and (3) the practical skill set for delivering care in a home setting. Whether someone is hired locally or from abroad, they're guaranteed the UK's minimum wage at the very least, so if a care home can't adhere to this simple rule, they should be reported and investigated. I've always been suspicious of claims regarding pay disparity based on national origin but I appreciate some of these claims may in fact be true. For the record, my mother did care work, as a first-generation immigrant, which why I picked care work as an example, and she was always paid as much as her English colleagues, with the caveat that there weren't many of them.
Of course, there are young people who choose to work in this field, but evidently the numbers aren't high enough, yet 16% of all people aged between 16 and 25 are jobless and whenever I'm on Reddit there is at least one post from a recent graduate, desperate for a job - often, they've been unemployed for months on end. This just doesn't make sense. I hope you see the point I'm trying to make. We can't slot everyone in to whatever role is available, that's true. And there's nothing wrong with being unemployed. There's certainly nothing wrong with not choosing to work in adult social care. It's simply one of many examples where our shifting demographic structure and our changing socio-cultural landscape converge to cause the confusion which has prompted this very post.
Salty_Door8817@reddit
I know some people who have been at uni for 4 years and have barely any work experience, and they expect a high yearly wage right out the door, just because they have a degree. Sadly for them, the world doesn't work like that, unless you get a degree for a specific industry where it's required, like a doctor, nurse, teacher etc.
Schools sell us all the idea that the next step is A levels then university, they never told us about going into the trades or other types of hands on work. I know a few sparkies earning around £70k a year, can't say i know any uni graduates earning even half of that. Most uni students now are studying for roles that won't even exist by the time the graduate thanks to the rapid advances of AI and the inevitable evolution to AGI.
magrandan@reddit
800,000 incoming people every year plus AI. I have to justify hiring an associate or senior associate by telling why their roles cannot be done by AI currently.
Whole_Necessary2040@reddit
Stagnant economy. You chose careers not in demand.
helpmaboabjings@reddit
I'm now in a senior role and likely i'll be interviewing future applicants.
We are so busy right now that training a young person to do the basics just isn't possible. I've also seen young people move on much quicker after they've been trained up.
Also and I admit i'm being a bit ageist but I work with 2 young people and they completely lack the ability to think on their feet and make decisions. They constantly ask what/where things are rather than reading up, they never think to action things because they weren't instructed to, they never work a minute before or after their start/finish times yet panic the next day when they have too much to do. Sorry to be a knob but that experience has made me wary
EyeAware3519@reddit
So you aren't willing to invest in people but on the rare occasion you do they are expected to work extra hours unpaid? I wonder why they leave?
helpmaboabjings@reddit
What expectation?
Who's leaving?
EyeAware3519@reddit
"I've also seen young people move on much quicker after they've been trained up" "they never work a minute before or after their start/finish times" You wrote it mate.
helpmaboabjings@reddit
Yes all across the organisation, I see young people moving on for higher positions. Are you saying you don't see it?
Again...what expectation?
EyeAware3519@reddit
I have been a manager in a few different companies. Some places have very good staff retention, some don't. People usually leave because they move on to somewhere that can offer them more. That may be better salary, better work life balance, better training, better prospects, better culture. The trick is to make your business a place where people want to stay. My current company has a very low staff turnover because people like working there.
If you're in the kind of business where the managers get upset by staff refusing to work unpaid hours then it suggests it's not difficult for them to find places they are more comfortable working at.
Just guessing though, I am only going based off your very brief statement.
helpmaboabjings@reddit
What expectations?
miowiamagrapegod@reddit
The expectation that you yourself expressed in this comment that people should arrive early and finish late
helpmaboabjings@reddit
What expectations?
Roseoman@reddit
I bet you hes a major reason why people are moving on he sounds awful to work under.
your-mum-joke@reddit
You should never expect anyone of any age to work a minute before or after their start/finish time. That shit adds up over the years and it's wrong to expect someone to work for free.
helpmaboabjings@reddit
It's nothing to do with expectations. However the 2 young ones in my team are constantly stressed out because they refuse to start tasks that could mean working a minute past 5 and then they get stressed out and constantly have a backlog because they keep catching up on things. I agree that you shouldn't have to work for free but for my own sanity and mental health, I really don't mind having to work an extra 5 or 10 minutes. It's really not the hardship you seem to think it is.
your-mum-joke@reddit
Nah its free labour, 10 minutes extra a day over 233 working days is roughly 38 hours of free labour in a working year, so approximately £460 worth of work on minimum wage for free. Its disgusting to expect anyone to work a minute more than they are paid to work. If the job requires more time to do the task then you pay your employees overtime to do it.
Apsalar28@reddit
It's always been on of the unwritten rules of every office jobs I've worked that if you need to leave 30 minutes early to get to an appointment then that's fine, but in exchange you will be willing to stay behind an extra 30 mins of come in a bit earlier occasionally to finish off an especially urgent task. It all balances out.
It's not universal but in my experience the younger generation won't do the second part, then get pissed off when the more senior people are leaving a bit early with nobody complaining but their manager won't let them do the same.
JustAnAnalyst99@reddit
Yes! Exactly, it's nice to see this. Maybe it's because I'm fortunate to work for a company who is understanding of this.
But I'll do an extra x amount of work whilst I have the momentum to save me the headache of leaving it. I'll also have days where I finish my work early and I'll leave early as a result. It all balances out like you say!
Apsalar28@reddit
I do exactly the same especially on days I'm working from home. It's much easier and more efficient to spend an extra 20 mins finishing off a task on an evening than leaving it 1/2 done and trying to remember what you were thinking the next day.
Then on days I have a 30 mins gap between meetings I'll go and sort out the washing or call the plumber because I wouldn't have got anything meaningful done in that 1/2 hour anyway.
helpmaboabjings@reddit
Lol I don't care mate. They can either 1) use common sense and do what's needed to ensure their work is done or 2) they can carry on being absolutely stressed out and they can either stay in that state or head off somewhere else which i'd be fine with. Nothing is expected as you keep harping on about, but the job is what you make of it. Your strawman argument is getting old.
Lol also on the OT part, you're preaching to the choir bud, but that's just not the way it works anymore. My choice is same as theirs - let everything pile up and get stressed OR I can work an extra 10 minutes on the odd day and catch up/clear my desk.
JustAnAnalyst99@reddit
I don't understand it either. I agree, I'm not going to give away hours of my time... But five mins here and there through lunch or overtime is nothing in the grand scheme of things... I've been seeing it since university where there's an increasing amount of weak willed, I'm not going to do anything but the bare minimum and ask for extensions and time off, types. Backed up by the fact they blocked you immediately, I wonder why they stand... an example I've seen recently is that there's some people at work that claim they are too busy to pick up more tasks because they have to respond to an email....
They then complain that nobody will hire them when they show no initiative or the employer chooses someone that's willing to take an extra five minutes to get their work in order.
Don't get me wrong, I'm completely on side with the various other issues people have pointed out regarding wages, experience, university, the general state of the economy, supply and demand etc in their job hunt. But damn it gets on my nerves when people are so sensitive about the bare minimum
helpmaboabjings@reddit
Yup, same. If my manager asked me to give up hours i'd be asking for at least toil however knowing my line of work, I know what tasks are best to get done right there and then even if it means taking a shorter lunch or leaving 5-10 mins late.
The person who blocked me is just stubborn and sees things in black and white. They kept up a silly argument that I had expectations of people to work for free which is just laughable; I simply see it that sometimes it's beneficial to spend an extra 5 minutes on something at the end of the day in order to save you stress the next morning but apparently that makes me disgusting lol.
your-mum-joke@reddit
Work for free if that's what you want pal 👍 but dont gaslight yourself into thinking its good. Most employers spout the give and take rhetoric but in my experience its always more in their favour. They are not your friend but go on carry on acting like it's a younger generation problem when people dont want to have the piss taken out of them and work for free just because company's take on more work then they are willing to pay for to be done.
"Five minutes here and there" it all adds up.
You're a mug.
thehairblairbunch1@reddit
Please don't take your anecdotal experience of 2 young people and equate that to the entire generation. I have had experience with 35+ aged people at work who have been absolutely awful at task management but I don't think for a second that all people of that age are the same. Perhaps some younger people need better management?
Roseoman@reddit
100% this, screams bad management to me.
helpmaboabjings@reddit
Honestly pal, nothing you said has made a difference to my thought process. You'll have to just accept it...or don't. Idc
Roseoman@reddit
Willing to bet thats how you talk to your staff aswell, no wonder young folk dont wanna work under you, sound like a bellend.
thehairblairbunch1@reddit
Tbh mate, it just sounds like shit management
Roseoman@reddit
Bingo
helpmaboabjings@reddit
Sounds like sour grapes on your part.
Maleficent-Win-6520@reddit
It’s been like this all my working life. It’s no more difficult than at any other time in history.
alexanderwilliams467@reddit
It 100% is. There are far, far fewer grad jobs compared to the number of graduates than in the past and high youth unemployment. Anecdotally, I found a job in 2022 in a few weeks, picking and choosing from offers. In 2025, I was unemployed for 6 months amd couldn't even find temp work in that time
Maleficent-Win-6520@reddit
Employers do not want graduates who are seeking their first employement.
alexanderwilliams467@reddit
Right, people used to be able to get started in their careers and far fewer can now. Its changed dramatically in even the past 5 years
Maleficent-Win-6520@reddit
Was no different when I left school many years ago.
alexanderwilliams467@reddit
It's objectively very different
Maleficent-Win-6520@reddit
Why is it any different? I left school in a recession. There were no jobs around
alexanderwilliams467@reddit
You had a much lower population to compete with, much less offshoring and AI destroying entry level jobs, more apprenticeships and opportunities to get started in careers, far more grad jobs relative to the number of grads, far more entry-level jobs in general, an astronomically lower cost of living making everything easier, unbelievably lower house prices and much less wealth inequality making everything harder if you're not a billionaire.
Maleficent-Win-6520@reddit
No we didn’t.
alexanderwilliams467@reddit
Ok you win. These are all provably true, but fine.
Remarkable_Figure95@reddit
Mainly because a lot of you are very rude in interviews and I'm tired of trying to drag answers out of you.
Start practising with somebody, please, it's embarrassing.
timeforknowledge@reddit
In 2008- 2010 young people were told you will not get a job after university. There are no jobs.
I'll next forget that because it was such a massive dilemma and issue for the country.
So for people to say it now I just roll my eyes, you don't know how easy you have it
WGSMA@reddit
Minimum Wage has grown at 6-8% a year, every year. Between that, ENIC rises and other reforms to workers rights, an entry level worker hits the P&L of a business to the tune of £30k a year.
4321zxcvb@reddit
It ain’t looking great for the middle aged either
chef_26@reddit
There’s a couple of factors.
AI is changing how companies work, in some jobs it is causing job losses, in others it’s enabling some roles to be performed more efficiently. In these instances companies are just slower to accept a need to recruit and slower in the process to make sure they’re getting the best they can.
Degrees are far less relevant than they used to be. Everyone who has mentioned the need to get a degree came up in a world where it made a difference, but only 20% of the population had one. Well over 50% of the population has one now, so it is not a differentiator anymore. If it’s not field specific, it’s not likely to have an impact unless you can explain in cover letter, CV and interview. Having a degree means little, knowing how you can apply your training to a potentially unrelated job is valuable.
Everything is volatile at the moment. Not recruiting keeps costs stable which can provide resilience to a company. Hiring someone great can do the same if not more. Hiring someone sub-par is a cost drag.
Each person applying needs to go in asking what they can take to that role that will benefit the role more than someone else would. If everyone’s argument is ‘degree’ then no one stands out. Focusing your application based on how you can uniquely support a role, talk about how you approached your degree and how that appears to match the companies work culture etc
jc456_@reddit
Country is fucked.
Charming_Case_7208@reddit
Suddenly adding millions of new workers into the labour pool will do that.
National_Wallaby_820@reddit
Mainly its lack of knowledge from young people and no one around to give them advice. Companies are crying out for young, ambitious talent.
FarAcanthocephala210@reddit
No they aren’t…..
National_Wallaby_820@reddit
Thanks for your comment. I’ve worked in recruitment for 15 years and know the UK job market like the back of my hand but obviously, you, random Redditor, know better.
Most people are either in denial or just don’t have access to the knowledge they need.
FarAcanthocephala210@reddit
Interest rates, increased national insurance contributions while companies have already been cutting costs, offshoring, increased minimum wage, way more qualified candidates than jobs available are the ACTUAL reasons. The economies gone to shit and you’re talking about us not having any knowledge. Coming from someone who hasn’t got a clue what’s even going on.
Fresh-Craft-1852@reddit
Lack of knowledge? Could you explain more ?
RelationshipLife6739@reddit
Cos the uk is fucked sadly.
ICanDanceIfIWantToo@reddit
Top many immigrants working in the likes of petrol stations and supermarkets
matmah@reddit
Jobs for life have vanished, so companies have no incentive to do on the job training any more. In the past you would join a company at the lowest level and work you way up and maybe switch departments if they felt like a career change.
These days if someone got trained on the job, they'd probably use that skillset and move on to the next job that may be a level up. It just makes more sense these days to hire people already trained and who may have more incentive to stay, mortgage, kids etc.
knomadt@reddit
And this probably started when wages stagnated and the only realistic way of getting a payrise was to change jobs. A lot of people could be convinced to stay with the company they're already in if they were getting payrises as they gained more experience and expertise.
GingerrJinx@reddit
Don't worry, it is as bad for older people with plenty experience.
NoisyGog@reddit
What job requires 15 years experience for minimum wage?
Hot-Specific4356@reddit (OP)
I was just exaggerating the point I was trying to make
NoisyGog@reddit
You’ve not exaggerated there, you’ve made up a situation. You’ve made a strawman argument.
alexanderwilliams467@reddit
I have literally seen minimum wage warehouse jobs demanding 2 years experience
NoisyGog@reddit
That’s not fifteen, is it?
alexanderwilliams467@reddit
No? The poster was exaggerating? Have you been checked for Autism?
NoisyGog@reddit
It makes it a pointless question. “Why is it like this?”, well… it isn’t.
Maybe if they dealt less in hyperbole, they’d mage themselves more useful
levifresh@reddit
That's not what strawman is
If it was, this would be a strawman comment
NoisyGog@reddit
They’ve made up a fictional thing (minimal wage job needing fifteen years experience) and are arguing with it. It’s exactly what a strawman is.
levifresh@reddit
Ok chief
Hot-Specific4356@reddit (OP)
W mans
Hot-Specific4356@reddit (OP)
lol Reddit lawyer 😭
NoisyGog@reddit
Lawyer?
Do you think maybe you’re struggling to find a job because you’re just an idiot?
your-mum-joke@reddit
😆
h_424@reddit
Businesses don't have enough money and they only hire long term. I have someone who works at range rover who tells me if people apply whilst they're still in university they'd often get rejected because they know they would leave in a few months.
The really experienced people or people who can't find jobs in their niche end up applying for entry level jobs and get them. Leaving the entry level jobs more hard to get and less of them.
AnimeWarTune@reddit
Immigration increases the supply of labor.
Woffingshire@reddit
It has become very expensive due to the NI increase to hire people in general. The increase in minimum wage means that young people can't be exploited for as big a saving, but the young people still don't have much experience so companies are opting to just hire less people with more experience and skills instead.
Infinite_Thanks_8156@reddit
Lots of people wanting work, not enough available jobs, employers being assholes
Strangely__Brown@reddit
It might suprise you but there are people who's productivity is so low it doesn't even justify minimum wage.
This is particularly true for younger people who lack experience.
However companies tend to take a hit in the understanding these individuals will get experience and better over time. To do this they need to be more profitable and to be able to absorb those costs.
The economy isn't great right now. People are spending less, minimum wage is very high and AI is encroaching on traditional entry level roles.
This all means that businesses have fewer incentives to employ younger people.
rabid-fox@reddit
Its difficult for everyone, it costs money to train people
shbgetreal@reddit
We were already struggling with stubborn inflation and anemic growth as part of the Covid aftermath.
Then the government decided to increase business costs two-fold (minimum wage + national insurance increases), not long after corporation tax for most businesses had risen by 31% in 2023.
They took a choking baby and throttled it.
Subsequently companies lay off and more experience is looking for work, so it is safer for businesses, if they are in a position to hire, to hire experience.
Now, with Iran ongoing, it will only get worse.
LittleStitch03@reddit
Nothing new but the vicious cycle of needing experience to get experience is definitely a factor.
Lynex_Lineker_Smith@reddit
It’s not just young people . It’s everyone.
BigMasterDingDong@reddit
I mean to put it simply, everything is pretty sucky from an economical standpoint right now. Most people are struggling, and businesses will struggle due to uncertain geopolitical issues etc etc etc
CowComfortable6614@reddit
Look at it this way;
Option 1) Hire Dave (35) who has 15 years experience on the job, won’t need much training - £15/hour
Option 2) hire Barry (21) fresh out of uni who has 0-6 months experience and will need a lot of training, but has a masters degree - £15/hour
FarAcanthocephala210@reddit
Great, now when Dave retires who’ll replace him? Every business is passing the load off to everyone else. And a day will come where their employees want to retire or just quit. Now you have no skilled employees with years of experience anymore they’re all old or dead. It’s time to close down the business you min maxed so hard for 40 years ago.
ApprehensiveCarpet2@reddit
Migrants.
Automatic-Cookie2376@reddit
Young are lazy, do not want to build long career, do not want to start from Minimum, they want everything now. That is not how it works
double-happiness@reddit
Then why are so many more people doing degrees? (Granted, not all of those students are young people, but most surely are).
Automatic-Cookie2376@reddit
Not many. A lot but not many. On another hand a lot of degrees are just useless.
double-happiness@reddit
Wait, what? More people in the UK are getting degrees than ever before, but you still think "not many" are?
How can it be a 'a lot' but still 'not many'??
Which degrees are those?
Anyway you are just moving the goalposts and contradicting yourself. Previously you said "Young are lazy, do not want to build long career, do not want to start from Minimum", but now you say they are doing useless degrees, so which is it? It might be self-defeating to do a 'useless' degree (whatever that is, I'm still not sure), but it's surely still not 'lazy' due to all the work involved!
SamVimesBootTheory@reddit
Its difficult for everyone but it seems to be especially bad now
I think one thing is a lot of the jobs that are considered 'young people' jobs like entry level retail have become less accessible to that demographic due to demand for jobs outnumbering vacancies.
Sarrebas89@reddit
Plus automation
xlucywhitfieldx@reddit
I went online to job search after being rejected again yesterday. Nothing in my area for the industry my degrees are in. I tried searching from various angles and for many bridge roles. Even the areas that are a 45 minute drive away don’t have any vacancies. The ones that are, they’re junior and mid-level roles that specify wanting experience for entry-level pay (approximately £24k/yr).
StudentOk5120@reddit
if you call up places that are supposed to help they will just say look online imagine having that kind of lol
PutAutomatic2581@reddit
I put the blame on jobsearch sites. There are jobs out there that don't require experience, but if you put that into any of those sites you'll get a million jobs that do.
Realistic-River-1941@reddit
Because the country is run for pensioners.
Infamous_Tough_7320@reddit
The UK has a huge over-qualification crisis
EatingCoooolo@reddit
Because managers don’t want to hire someone who can do on the job training for some reason. They want someone with 20 years experience.
CantaloupeThis1217@reddit
It's a brutal combination of an oversaturated market and companies demanding senior-level skills for entry-level pay. The economy being in the dumps just means they have zero incentive to fix it. No wonder it feels like you need a decade of experience just to get your foot in the door.
Misutoraru@reddit
I am not young anymore but we share same experience when I was young. Many unrealistic expectations wanting someone full of experience to join a junior role. Then I lower my expectations find some role that offer to A-Level and they call you over qualified. There are many companies wants to pay peanuts for exceptional talents. All I learned in those years is just keep on going, road ahead just going to get worse, you will eventually get to a point and endure it
RHMoaner@reddit
Businesses refuse to even consider not getting all the money.
SirLongShank@reddit
Young people are flakey and unreliable
double-happiness@reddit
Not that it answers your question, but it's not just difficult for young people.
LondonWelsh@reddit
For the business I work in - accountancy firm South Wales, it is a mixture of cost and less need for untrained staff.
With more electronic records (Xero / QuickBooks, CSV files) the basic grunt work that juniors would do has massively decreased. VAT returns might have only done 3/4 a day, now you can comfortably do 10. Accounts that used to take us a full day on site are now often finished by midday as the qualified accountant can get a CSV file, pivot table, and prepare a large chunk of the work quite quickly on their own. Even just 5 years ago you might have spent hours sitting there calling out the bank statements manually to be summarised.
But also, between the much higher minimum wage, pension, higher employer's NI, the accountancy training courses with study leave, the annual cost for a junior can come in around £40k compared to about £55 - £60k for a qualified accountant. Except the qualified accountant can do significantly more complex work, has a higher charge out rate, and is available for work more.
Strafe_Helix@reddit
Older people hate younger people
Psittacula2@reddit
Global degrowth and global restructuring:
* Climate
* Nature
* Finance and Fiat Money
* Geopolitics ie multi or bipolar dynamics
* Energy as root of economy adjustment in all prices and thus fake economic growth vs higher costs reduces employment in markets
Brian_from_accounts@reddit
Once you’ve seen the problems caused by just one woke or over entitled young person who has raised a feelings complaint about XYZ, you will probably not rush to hire another.
Forsaken1741@reddit
Too many people, not enough jobs. it's that simple. Companies can afford to be picky.
FewEstablishment2696@reddit
Most British people have no more skills than their Indian or Chinese counterpart, but expect to be paid four times as much for doing the same job. This doesn't work in an increasingly global economy.
Late_Temperature_234@reddit
Schools are funnelling kids into university when the shortage is in the trades... plumbers... electricians... etc
poopolisher@reddit
Don’t take it personally, it’s shit for everyone
Recent-Lavishness660@reddit
honestly it’s brutal out there. employers want experience but how are you supposed to get it if nobody hires you without it? classic catch 22
shadow-season@reddit
When 50-300 people are applying to each entry level job even experience is not enough
shadow-season@reddit
The job market is awful for everyone. I'm in my 40s and have a ton of experience in the sectors I'm applying to, and it's still hard to get seen for even entry level roles.
Conscious_Guess9637@reddit
Because companies cut costs and out source in other countries do cheaper labour. It’s fucked our economy, truly. It’s made those businesses more profitable but those wages aren’t getting paid in our country and that money isn’t contributing to our economy. I used to work at a facilities management company and ALL their grad/ lower technical type roles were done in India remotely by Indian people. This is a huge asset management company in the UK deciding to do this, due to greed. It should be illegal. It’s messed up, it is truly fucking everyone in the arse - including the rich. Don’t provide jobs and decent wages in this country? People won’t have any money to spend on your businesses anymore. The introduction of AI taking jobs is already doing this. Look at Tesco for example, used to be tonnes of workers on tills etc, now it’s a few people on tills. Where do those people get their money from to live now? People on benefits has increased massively in the UK, and who pays for that? Normal tax payer.
IMO, if companies wanna offshore or use AI to replace people, there has to be a HEFTY tax for this, because we need people in work and it’s more important than the greed of a company.
AndrewHinds67@reddit
That's the way it's been since I was young in the 1980s. Fortunately, I got the job I really wanted on the railway in 1984 and they didn't need me to be experienced as I was a trainee. About 20 years ago I was doing a proof reading and copy editing course. I phoned up one place and they said their requirements were the applicant must have 20 years experience. I said what's the point of me doing a course in that case? Needless to say, I quit that course as I saw it as a waste of time. Besides, I earn more than a proofreader anyway.
Sea-Still5427@reddit
It's difficult for everyone.
wardyms@reddit
As a hiring manager - lots of roles get hundreds of applicants. Out of those you’re going to end up hiring those with more experience generally.
MaltedMilkBiscuits10@reddit
Life is expensive.
There are more and people working right up until their late 60s and early 70s.
People's pensions that they planned 10, 20, 30 years ago could have never planned for the cost of living right now.
The state pension is no more than a weekly shop.
Savings rates have not kept up with inflation.
Peoples money has become considerably less valuable than it was even 10 years ago.
I remember before COVID doing a weekly shop for just myself (living alone) for £20, I also remember spending no more than a tenner on gas and electric and putting£20 in my car for work and rent was only 20% of my income. Now a weekly shop is £60, energy is costs more than my rent did before COVID and my rent is pretty much nearly half of my income.
People can't afford to not work if they aren't one of the people that were on super good salaries and were able to put a substantial portion of it away for retirement.
As an employer, you are presented with two candidates, a younger person who is fresh, can do all the talk, got all the certificates but lacks real world experience. You got a older person, say late 50s , doesn't have a glowing CV, but has 30 years experience in the field, you know they don't need training, they can pretty much familiarise themselves in a day and just do the job without much guidance.
The hospitality trade has been known for providing jobs to young people but that trade is currently been killed off by taxes and changing consumer habits.
Retail is another big employer of the young but there isn't a single retail company that hasn't gone on a mass laying off in the last 5 years.
Employing people has increasingly become very expensive and employers are looking to employ less people and get more productivity from them.
In the end my summary would be: less jobs and people have to work longer because they can't afford to come out of work.
FatBloke4@reddit
The job market is bad for everyone and has been like this for a few years now.
avemango@reddit
Exponential population growth vs stagnating business growth
TapWeekly8961@reddit
There's a plethora of information about this online. Literally so much you could write a PhD on it.
Awkward-Pen-8428@reddit
More people wanting jobs than there are jobs is the simplest answer. If you have 1 apple and 1 person wants an apple then everyone is happy, if you have 1 apple and 10 people want an apple then you've got 9 unhappy people.
Casual_Star@reddit
Employers have the power, they’ll have 300 applicants for one role, they’ll make them go though 5 stages of interviews for one entry level job.
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
Importation of low skilled workers.
Jobs like stacking shelves in a supermarket used to be done by mainly school leavers etc. But now you have a 50 year old man from Africa stacking the shelves. The starter jobs are not there anymore.
Other factors such as only hiring your own tribe are also to blame. The mcdonalds in my town is managed and run entirely by new arrivals from Hong Kong. Every single one. Despite only being a tiny % of my towns population. The other mcdonalds in my town is entirely run by Indians.
No-Taro-6953@reddit
Globalisation has made the job market tougher across the board.
Plastic-Stable-7679@reddit
Yep i will agree with that!
Its why Nationalism is SO important.
Brilliant_Whereas503@reddit
was about to explain how all of this is pretty incorrect but then saw you support restore britain in your post history so yeah you're not worth the time
Kindly_Brilliant_194@reddit
i think a big factor is supply and demand plus inflation. young people now have more qualifications than ever, but there aren’t enough stable entry-level positions that pay well. companies also like to extract free work via internships or low-pay “experience building” roles, which makes it feel impossible to get a proper start
ProfPMJ-123@reddit
If there’s low numbers of active job openings and plenty of people with experience looking, you don’t take a punt on someone without experience.
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