Young people's reaction to the Opportunity Guarantee

Though there are signs of recovery, the unemployment crisis is still very real for many young people. In our recent paper, the Youth Employment Group (YEG) sets out a three-stage approach to improving the prospects of young people in the post-COVID economy through building an Opportunity Guarantee. 

In this paper, we call on the government to enact several key recommendations in their ‘Levelling Up’ agenda, including the extension of the Kickstart scheme, as well as the improvement in quality and quantity of local support. Read the full paper here. 

We spoke to members of our Future Voice Group to understand their reactions to the paper and its calls to action.

Ed

“I feel that the Opportunity Guarantee is important in order to increase the number of young people in meaningful employment and to make the numbers of young people in meaningful employment more equal across marginalised groups and people with privilege. An Opportunity Guarantee would make work on youth employment more equal. “ 

Annie

“The Opportunity Guarantee is a much-needed targeted call for the Government to act further on the youth unemployment crisis. As a young person from different marginalised communities, who has been NEET before, this call for rapid, focused action (especially in terms of the September Guarantee) is very much welcome. We *need* to be in a better position within the next six months and beyond as I fear that otherwise we’ll lose out on a generation of young people with great talent, resilience and potential. The Opportunity Guarantee is a pledge the Government could make right now to meet this.”

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Recently, the YEG published an open letter to the Prime Minister, signed by 89 youth employment experts, which built on the asks of our paper and called for an opportunity guarantee of an education place, apprenticeship or job for all young people. Read it here and see the exclusive coverage in The Mirror here.