Employability

All young Londoners deserve to be excited and inspired about their futures.

Young people’s confidence and self-belief is at an all-time low. One in four young people in the 2023 Prince’s Trust NatWest Youth Index feel like they are going to fail in life. This has been accentuated by loss of social interaction and education during a prolonged period of pandemic and deepened now with the anxiety of a cost-of-living crisis.

We understand firsthand that race is a significant factor, with young Londoners of colour twice as likely to be unemployed as their white peers. The recent Youth Employment UK 2022 Census of over 4000 young people between the ages of 11-30 further revealed that young Black, Black African, Black British or Caribbean respondents were over 3 times more likely to say they did not feel welcome in their secondary school. This suggests that many of them would be less receptive to exploring their future hopes and aspirations in a school environment than they would be in non-formal educational settings such as a youth club (i.e., where they choose to go).

These are just some of the current barriers and challenges that young people are facing when taking the first steps in their careers.

This is why we help our network of over 600 youth organisations to progress young people’s career aspirations, building their skills and resilience, and enhancing their employability through a variety of programmes.

Our youth organisation members are located at the hearts of communities across London. These are the places young people enjoy attending and feel at home, where long-standing and trusted relationships already exist between young people and their youth workers, and where young people get information, advice and guidance.

Our early intervention actively seeks to reduce the chance of long-term youth unemployment, which we know increases the likelihood of unemployment in later life, lower earnings and poorer well-being.

Our programme models recognise that getting young people into employment is as much about gaining the skills and confidence to face what lies ahead, to access work experience, as progress with education.

That’s why we believe in supporting young people to explore what’s out there to:

The Employability Network

The Employability Network convenes quarterly. It brings together youth practitioners and other specialists involved in front-line youth employability programmes in London.

It’s an opportunity for youth practitioners to share best practice, to network and partner, and to connect with experts and policymakers. The network is primarily aimed at London Youth members, but is open to any organisation or statutory service involved or interested in youth employability in London.

Keep an eye on our upcoming events here where you will be able to register to join.

If you are an employer or a London Youth member and would like to take part in any of these programmes, or would like to talk about supporting young people into meaningful work please get in contact by email on employability@londonyouth.org.