Two-thirds of young people struggling to find meaningful work since pandemic.

The majority of young people have found it harder to secure high-quality work since the start of the pandemic, research has found, with poor mental health one of the main barriers.

A report from the Institute of Employment Studies (IES) found that 62 per cent of people aged 16 to 24 feel the pandemic has made it harder to find high-quality work – based on factors including environment, job security, and work-life balance.

The same percentage said the pandemic had impacted their confidence when it came to work. The report warned that despite a fall in unemployment since the pandemic – dropping 2.1 percentage points between 2020 and 2021 – coronavirus had led to a deterioration in working conditions. And while young people were not necessarily affected by the virus itself, the measures in response to it had caused them to miss out on educational and social opportunities.

At Heyllo we firming believe that these findings highlight a real risk that the pre-pandemic trend of the worsening quality of youth employment and challenges in accessing good jobs has become further entrenched, and that it is the our duty and the duty of those supporting young people (from government, to education, employers, and support services) to overcome them.
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