Schools and the twenty-first century labour market: perspectives on structural change

ABSTRACT

The focus of this article is the youth labour market and how changes within it have (negatively) affected the economic prospects of young Britons. It suggests ways in which schools and colleges can respond to such change in order to optimise the life chances of their students. The paper reviews the perspectives of two important groups of people well-placed to offer informed views to educationalists: policy commentators close to the political and academic debates surrounding youth employment; and, HR professionals with first-hand experience of recruitment. Synthesising perspectives, the paper highlights three key changes demanding attention: the growing complexity of the labour market; increased competition for entry level employment; and, the changing requirements of employers who increasingly seek new employees well placed to be personally effective in applying knowledge and skills in changing situations. The paper concludes by offering a framework for structuring school provision to optimise the school to work transitions of young people.

KEYWORDS:

• Youth labour market
• recruitment skills
• enterprise education
• employer engagement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Anthony Mann is Director of Policy and Research at the Education and Employers Taskforce: www.educationandemployers.org/research-main.

Prue Huddleston is Emeritus Professor and formerly Director of the Centre for Education and Industry at the University of Warwick.

Notes

1 Low Pay is defined in the analysis at two-thirds of gross hourly median pay (excluding overtime) among all employees.