Social Mobility Evidence - Lords Select Committee
- 1. EVIDENCE FOR THE HOUSE OF LORDS SELECT COMMITTEE Social Mobility in Transition from School to Work ABSTRACT This submission evaluates the ability for young people to enter into employment after finishing education. Youth Employment UK CIC explores the factors leading to the discrepancy between expectation and reality in employment opportunity for young workers and jobseekers out of school. Thousands of young people do not follow the traditional pathway of A-Levels to Higher Education, and the Millennial generation’s ability for social mobility is under constant scrutiny, not least by themselves. Utilising Youth Employment UK’s pool of young volunteers, this study carries out a qualitative focus group analysis of young people aged between 16 and 24 via social media. Looking to dispel the hypothesis that Millennials lack social mobility due to entitlement and lack of desire, this work explores the hypothesis that network power significantly influences the ability for young people to increase their social mobility. This paper recommends that government increases its focus and attention of fostering broader and deeper networks for young people during their formative years, in order to increase opportunity for social mobility. Kenechi Eziefula Youth Employment UK
- 2. Table of Contents About our Organisation ..........................................................................................................................1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................................1 Method ...................................................................................................................................................2 Focus Group Responses..........................................................................................................................3 Analysis of responses..............................................................................................................................4 Recommendations..................................................................................................................................5 Contact....................................................................................................................................................6 Annex ......................................................................................................................................................6 About our Organisation Youth Employment UK is a social organisation that works to bring together a Community of employers, businesses, public and private individuals who seek to make the UK a more youth friendly place for employment. Through our members’ portal and youth programme, we have an outreach of hundreds of organisations and thousands of young people. Founded in a kitchen in 2011, Youth Employment UK has grown to become a national organisation with volunteers throughout the UK. Through the work of our staff, Youth Ambassadors and Community Members, Youth Employment UK aims to change the employment landscape to cultivate fair and friendly employment practises towards young people. Introduction Alternative pathways from school to work are becoming more attractive for young people who have a specific trade they want to learn, or field they want to break into. One reason for this is University tuition fees rising to over £9000 per annum, with many young people financially discouraged from attending university1 with a 17% drop in undergraduates in the first year the higher fees were introduced, 2012. While UCAS figures currently show more young people will be taking up places at university this year, and the number of students from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university has increased by 4 per cent since last year2 , the sharp drop in undergraduates since 2012 sends a clear message that there is a large group of Millennials financially forced onto alternative educational or employment pathways, who need support to maintain their social mobility opportunities. 1 BBC News, 2014, Higher Fees Led to 17% Drop in UK Undergraduates, Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25761133 2 UCAS, 2015, Over 409,000 students already placed in UK higher education – up 3% on 2014, Available at: https://www.ucas.com/corporate/news-and-key-documents/news/over-409000-students-already-placed-uk- higher-education-%E2%80%93-3.
- 3. Secondly, the University pathway has become crowed and saturated3 . Finally, there has been a huge boost in the number of businesses and organisations offering high quality traineeships, apprenticeships and internship opportunities for school leavers4 . The term ‘Millennial’ is defined as a person born between the 1980s to the late 1990s5 . The spectre of limited social mobility is an often raised worry by researchers and young people of the Millennial generation themselves. The current Millennial generation in Britain is the first to have a majority believe that they will be less successful than their parents67 . This may simply be a blip or an unfounded fear, but trends in youth employment, migration and housing prices do not go far to dispel this anxiety. In addition to this, Millennials have been reported as having widely unrealistic wage and employment expectations89 . This creates issues for creating an attractive and viable structure for supporting school leavers into work, and even graduates into work. Social mobility is crucial to the continued economic growth of the nation10 , and networks have been identified as a huge driving force for social mobility11 . This paper will give evidence and recommendations exploring young people’s attitudes to social mobility against their network power. Method We put forth the questions specified by the Select Committee on Social Mobility, along with our own, to a portion of our Youth Ambassadors through the social media platform, Facebook. Facebook was selected due to its prolifically high use among young people, its low cost and sharing ability. Youth Employment UK CIC has a secure Facebook group for its Youth Ambassadors which is used in our day-to-day communications with them. The focus group was comprised of young people, all Millennials, aged 16 to 24 of mixed gender, ethnic, regional and educational backgrounds. This allowed for a range of responses, capturing a slice of young people opinions and attitudes and can be seen as broadly representative. 3 Willmott, B., Conveyor belt of UK graduates is failing to boost productivity, Available at: http://www.cityam.com/222741/conveyor-belt-uk-graduates-failing-boost-productivity 4 HM Government, 2013, New figures show record numbers of apprentices, Available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-figures-show-record-numbers-of-apprentices 5 Ng, E. S., Schweitzer, L., & Lyons, S. T., (2010), New generation, great expectations: A field study of the millennial generation, Journal of Business and Psychology, 25, vol. (2), p. 281-292. 6 Williams, A., 2015, Youngsters are worse off than their parents: The sorry lot of today’s youth is worrying and urgent, Available at: http://www.cityam.com/218073/economic-injustice-sorry-lot-today-s-young-worrying- and-urgent 7 Sedghi, A., Arnett, G., 2014, Will your generation have a better life than your parents?, Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2014/apr/14/will-your-generation-have-a-better-life-than-your- parents 8 Business Reporter, 2015, Average 16 year-old expects to earn £89,000 a year, survey finds, Available at: http://business-reporter.co.uk/2015/08/20/average-16-year-old-expects-to-earn-89000-a-year-survey-finds/ 9 Consultancy.uk, 2015, Aon Hewitt: 43 percent Millennials unhappy with boss, Available at: http://www.consultancy.uk/news/1484/aon-hewitt-43-per-cent-millennials-unhappy-with-boss 10 Reeves, R., 2013, The Economic Case for Social Mobility, Available at: http://www.brookings.edu/research/opinions/2013/08/16-economic-case-social-mobility-reeves 11 Hanif, N., 2011, Why is social mobility still such a problem?, Available at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk- 12225252
- 4. This research was limited by the small size of the focus group, non-repetition of the group testing, and the impersonality of the Facebook platform. Improvements would be to expand the size of the focus group, host several focus groups, and have groups both online and in person be questioned. Our Youth Ambassadors answered 4 questions: 1. What are the most significant factors that affect the social mobility and employment outcomes of young people in the transition from school into the work place? 2. There is a group of young people aged 14-24 who do not follow the A Level and higher education route, and are not classified as NEET. What is known about the young people in this group– who are they, why are they in this position and what are their career trajectories? 3. Does the current transition system support young people who do not follow the A-Level and higher education route to perform better in terms of employment outcomes? If not, why not? What challenges do these young people face in their ability to transition successfully into the workplace? 4. Has the network of friends and family around you helped you onto an education or employment pathway? a. Can you explain how? b. If not, do you think you would have benefitted if they did try to help you? Focus Group Responses 1. What are the most significant factors that affect the social mobility and employment outcomes of young people in the transition from school into the work place? Youth Ambassadors report that it is the: Complex processes of application and rejection, Nepotism and networking Lack of experience from a young age Lack of visible success of other young people and ethnic minorities
- 5. 2. There is a group of young people aged 14-24 who do not follow the A Level and higher education route, and are not classified as NEET. What is known about the young people in this group – who are they, why are they in this position and what are their career trajectories? Youth Ambassadors say that: Different learning styles Organisations that specifically recruit young people who do not have A-Levels or a degree Favourable or unfavourable location Nepotism, networking and social capital 3. Does the current transition system support young people who do not follow the A-Level and higher education route to perform better in terms of employment outcomes? If not, why not? What challenges do these young people face in their ability to transition successfully into the workplace? Young Ambassadors said that: Lack of support in transition i. Stems from focus on academic achievement ii. Institutionally entrenched negativity from education providers towards alternative education and employment pathways other than A-Levels and Higher Education 4. Has the network of friends and family around you helped you onto an education or employment pathway? Youth Ambassadors said that: Seeing friends and family succeed encouraged them to do them same Having successful friends and family in their network boosted their own knowledge and skills Analysis of responses From the responses we gathered from our Youth Ambassadors, three observations can be deduced. Firstly, young people desire other young people to visibly be seen to be successful in alternative educational pathways and employment, and create opportunities for each other to get ahead, either by inspiration or by connections. New technological advances such as LinkedIn, which
- 6. are heavily used by professionals in gaining employment, or career progression1213 , show the importance of these networks. However, young people are not utilising these networks due to the lack of youth friendly job opportunities and the lack of a youth user base with a large professional presence1415 . Additionally, these networks rely on building upon the employment oriented links the user have made in real life, which are not heavily developed in young people outside of having academic peers. Secondly, the desire for the search, application and recruitment processes to change to become more accessible and forgiving of failure. Those who are constantly unsuccessful in applications are not gaining the help that they need to transition successfully. The manner in which rejections are handled represents a barrier for young people. Additionally, the numerous barriers in the recruitment process represent another barrier that limits opportunity for both educators and employers to get the most from young people, and vice versa, especially when pursuing an alternate pathway from school to work. Thirdly, for educational institutions to change their attitude and narrative on alternative educational and employment pathways. The support of the educational network is shown to be weak in terms of helping young people transition from school to work, especially in alternate pathways such as apprenticeships. Recommendations The following evidence calls for a deeper investigation into the relationship between network power and social mobility. With young people desiring more visibility, strong support networks, investigating the wider support and viability for the induction of young people into real life employment networks, which would support them when deciding to transition from school to work. With more and more taking alternative pathways into work, social mobility already as restricted as it is, and the large gap between Millennials employment prospects, wage expectations and reality16 , there are grounds for concern that there will be further social mobility issues in the future. With rising housing costs and young people feeling less likely to be as successful as their parents, the horizon for future economic growth and social cohesion could be dimmed. While there are very positive signs with the increase of young people engaging with alternative pathways, there is still a huge discrepancy between the effectiveness of these pathways and the education network’s attitudes towards them. This is a problem that must be addressed if there is to be meaningful effort 12 Innes, J., What is LinkedIn? Why is it so important, Available at: http://www.cvcentre.co.uk/linkedin- importance.htm 13 Shin, L., 2014, How To Use LinkedIn: 5 Smart Steps To Career Success, Available at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/laurashin/2014/06/26/how-to-use-linkedin-5-smart-steps-to-career-success/ 14 Reprezent, 2014, How do young people use social media to look for jobs?, Available at: http://www.deloittedigital.com/eu/blog/how-do-young-people-use-social-media-to-look-for-jobs 15 Jordan, K, 2013, Young People Hate LinkedIn, Available at: http://www.successfulworkplace.org/2013/03/31/young-people-hate-linkedin/ 16 Business Reporter, 2015, Average 16 year-old expects to earn £89,000 a year, survey finds, Available at: http://business-reporter.co.uk/2015/08/20/average-16-year-old-expects-to-earn-89000-a-year-survey-finds/
- 7. into making alternative pathways from school to work a means of increasing social mobility for young people. The connections that aid you into work, and the connections of peers who can inspire and support each other are connections that young people find highly desirable. The creation of a high profile, easily accessible national body that fosters the building of such networks in a non-academic capacity from a young age could beneficial to young people in gaining social mobility opportunities after school. Youth Employment UK’s own Volunteer Ambassador network has gathered national traction and can evidence the impact of the types of peer-to-peer engagement that work. The programme already has significant plans for growth and is working closely with Young Members to support its development. Contact For further information please contact me, Kenechi Eziefula at Youth Employment UK CIC. Telephone: 0844 4143101 or email [email protected] Annex Question 1 What are the most significant factors that affect the social mobility and employment outcomes of young people in the transition from school into the work place? Ambassador Responses AJ Moore 23 Worcester – Account Grad working for NCS Long and complicated recruitment processes. Paul-James Cashman-Roberts 18, Weymouth 1st year Law Undergraduate To be really honest, I think that while outside factors like government policy do have an impact on social mobility for young people(positive or negative that depends on your own political opinion). By far the biggest impact is our own attitude, if we think we won't do it, or we can't be bothered to do it then it won't happen. However like I mentioned above outside factors also have an impact, non- more so the government laws and policy, although it is my belief that the move governments get involved in people's lives young and older the more harm than good is done (but that's just my opinion), does really acting like a third parent help? Or does it just have the opposite affect Rhiannon 18, Level 3 Apprentice The long cycle affects young people greatly when searching for a job. I find that the more you get rejected the less will you have over time to even try. It has a huge impact on emotional and physical
- 8. wellbeing let alone social mobilility and government policies. The main thing that will help young people get a job is themselves and as long as you can keep on fighting you will succeed. Jack Welch I think it's still very much a culture of 'who you know' and the advantages young people have when their families have strong networks or can secure work placements on their behalf. Factors also like disability, emotional wellbeing and family breakdown can also impact on the progression of young people, which can have long lasting damage. I think it's been described as the 'scarring effect' to be long term unemployed. Zishi Zhang 17, A-level student I think that most of the young people today do not have enough work experience while they are studying at school. To be fair, there aren't many 'nice' work experience out there. Students don't want to sit in an office and doing repetitive administration works. However, I think this situation has been improving by the National Citizen Service and the W(ork)E(xperience) campaign. However, it is still hard for a secondary school student to find a work experience related to the job they want to do in the future. Government and charities should work together and bring all sides to produce a much more comprehensive plan to provide various work experience for students. Having sufficient work experience could improve students' skills and could help them to choose a job that really fits them. Therefore, the transition between school and workplace will be much smoother. Furthermore, there isn't enough young people involved in politics. The average age of MP is 50. We need to improve youth engagement in politics and campaign for a better education in politics for young people. When there is enough representative of young people in the decision making process and leadership, they will understand the problems teenagers facing better Shayne TheInstigator According to a report in 2014 the percentage of All white executives in the ftse top 100 companies rose from 65 % to 69%.. A clear indication that the coperate gap between the minorities and majority is actually continually widening. Speaking from a minority perspective in terms of social mobility one feels marginalised from the offset.It tends to get hard to be motivated to aim high or for top offices when the writing on the wall is saying you are going to fail anyway. The Government and relevant ministers have attempted to put measures in place to make coperates more diverse by 2020 although this far fetched resolution would also go on to explain why young people from minority back grounds are also the least likely to vote, they have become disillusioned. One should be cautious however not to quickly scream discrimination, but More still needs to be done to encourage marginalised young people to break the trend and start exploring their fullest potential Question 2 There is a group of young people aged 14-24 who do not follow the A Level and higher education route, and are not classified as NEET. What is known about the young people in this group– who are they, why are they in this position and what are their career trajectories?
- 9. Rhiannon 18, Level 3 Apprentice Everybody has a different way of learning and we have to find the right one for us. If it's not A Level it shouldn't matter you are doing what you want to do and no one can stop you. However these students shouldn't then be lost in a pile of numbers. Once people go into traineeships or apprenticeships there should always be support in place to guide them because as much as it is our responsibility we also need to learn and sometimes we need the support of others to guide us. Jack Welch 21, Freelance writer Having met a few people in this bracket, there are a number of placements out there (which includes the BBC as an example) that look specifically for students without degrees. Many may simply fall into a good job opportunity, where it almost doesn't becomes unnecessary to ever need to go to university because of a regular income and doing what you enjoy. However, it is disproportionate in favour of people who live in larger parts of the country and the quality will vary as a result. Question 3 Does the current transition system support young people who do not follow the A-Level and higher education route to perform better in terms of employment outcomes? If not, why not? What challenges do these young people face in their ability to transition successfully into the workplace? Jack Welch To my mind, transitions in the UK are not simply adequate at present. given that we are the most likely age group to be on Zero Hour Contracts and in the lowest skilled form of employment opportunities available. There are many I think that struggle to achieve in school, because of a heavy emphasis on academic study and the lack of regard for more artistic or vocational subjects by HE institutions. As an example of a quick bit of research I did in good rates of youth employment, Norway's system offers a programme to study different vocational subjects from construction to agriculture and a college alternative for these studies, rather than university. If a better focus was put into the abilities of young people who like to be more 'hands on', we might be in a better place rather than having to spend resource on getting people just ready to apply for a job and the basics of retaining that role Hugo Boss I know that at my school (The Charter School - has been rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted several years in a row) apprenticeships, internships or any other alternative to university have never been mentioned, although we have had several assemblies and a lot of preparation for uni - as well as one assembly about a '1st class' and '2nd class' ticket to your future. The same is largely true for Kingsdale, a nearby state school (rated 'good' by Ofsted in their last inspection in 2012)