On World Youth Skills Day, Beatrice Miano, Public Affairs Adviser for the World Employment Confederation, look at which barriers still hinder youth employment and how HR services professionals can help young people acquire the skills they need to have the work they want.
Published on 31st July 2024
Demographics in the workplace are undergoing a significant change. Gen Z is expected to surpass the Baby Boomers in the full-time workforce, with Millennials set to dominate the labour market for years to come. It’s clear that the future of the workforce lies with the younger generation, and it’s crucial for employers and policymakers to recognize and address their needs and priorities. Let’s look at which barriers still hinder youth employment and how HR services professionals can help young people acquire the skills they need to have the work they want.
One significant issue is the disconnect between the priorities of younger workers and the policies created by older decision-makers, whether legislators or employers. This disparity is often caused by a misconception of the values and preferences of younger workers.
Amongst those preferences, flexibility raised as a top priority. A 2022 LinkedIn survey found that Gen Z workers were the cohort most likely to have left a role owing to a perceived lack of flexibility (72% fell into this category, compared with 69% of Millennials; 53% of Gen X; and 59% of Boomers). As a US report by McKinsey found, the desire for flexibility is also part of the reason why 18‒24-year-olds are more likely than other age groups to work multiple jobs (25%, compared with 16% across all other age groups.
Offering diverse forms of work is, therefore, a must if employers want to be attractive to a younger workforce. The conversation around employment, however, often presents a false choice between traditional full-time roles and flexible temporary work. McKinsey found that young people with multiple jobs chose to do so because they enjoy the variety of work (28%). Similarly, research by Deloitte found that, while money was the primary driver for Gen Z and Millennials taking on second jobs, substantial numbers also did so for other reasons, including to monetise a hobby or pastime; to provide them with a change in focus; and to expand their networks.
Companies are increasingly recognizing the value of offering diverse forms of work as well as providing benefits and development opportunities to all employees, regardless of their contract type. A survey we conducted with FT Longitude amongst more than 700 senior executives shows that 59% of employers offer training opportunities to agency workers while 46% offer job-rotation opportunities. Such considerations can help meet young people’s appetite for self-development and dynamic career paths.
Mind the Gap: Stepping from School to the Workplace
Another critical point of disconnect is between the world of education and the world of work. Employers often mention that certain soft skills are not being sufficiently developed in young people when they arrive in the labour market. Travi, the training fund established by the social partners of the agency work sector in Belgium, developed the “Test Your Selfie” online tool. Through a gamified format, it enables young job seekers to test nine soft skills that employers consider essential and helps them identify their strengths and weaknesses so that they can work on developing further. Travi’s training tool is now even available to schoolteachers for classroom use. It was recently presented as a best practice for training through social dialogue in a workshop with trade union representatives from all across Europe.
A recent research by the International Labour Organisation and the World Bank on youth-focused active labour market programmes found that key design features of effective programmes include soft skills training and certification. That research also says that youth entrepreneurship and training programmes have the largest impact. These programmes deliver the skills, work experience, or financial support needed to enter employment.
What young talents often miss is simply some guidance. The HR services sector has a long track record in supporting young people on the employment pathway. 50% of agency workers are under 30 years old, and 20%, on average, are students.
Working through a temporary work agency is a great way to gain first work experience and the essential ‘on-the-job’ skills. An study quoted in a comparative study by Gi Group on youth and work demonstrates this by showing that young temporary agency work employees, compared to young people with the same individual characteristics but directly employed by a company, reach a higher probability of remaining employed than those not recruited through an agency (+6.8%). Moreover, from a long-term perspective, the positive effect also emerges in the greater probability of being employed with an open-ended contract (+3.9%).
Employers are waking up to the mindset changes of the young people they are trying to attract, but they are still bound to operate by legal frameworks that sometimes feel ill-designed to accommodate the preferences of younger workers. Policymakers around the world could do more to meet those needs, and bring forward rules that support the development of more flexible job markets. This could help younger workers to find the diverse and rewarding opportunities that they seek.
First published by ADAPT, July 2024
