Young People & The Future Of Work

The last few weeks of the summer months are always a challenging period for school-goers, either it represents the end of weeks' of freedom, or for those who have recently undertaken exams, it can mean either commencing higher education, or the daunting prospect of entering the workplace.

There is no doubt that it is an important period in a person’s life, the results achieved can have long-lasting effects; failure to attain a desired grade in a subject can lead to having to choose a new university, or abandon entering higher education completely.

However, it certainly is not as critical as it once was.

Changing times and technology are presenting an abundance of previously never thought of career opportunities. So much so, that many young people are carving out niche opportunities for themselves from unlikely sources, such as being an ethical hacker or a vlogger. The majority of these opportunities do not require any or at least the same level of qualifications to gain entry or to be successful.

But is this new approach to career progression being exploited?

Zero Hour Contracts

For young people to attempt to break into or carve out opportunities in these new fields, they either need to support themselves in the short-term or take entry level positions. Companies have been quick to see an opportunity to hire potentially talented staff but in a very risk adverse way, the much publicised, zero-hour contract.  

This form of employment, where employers are not obliged to provide any minimum hours, has seen significant growth in last decade. In 2005, only 0.4% of contracts in the UK where zero-hour contracts, by the end of the 2016 that number had jumped to 2.8%.

Latest reports suggest that as many as 34% of the workers on this type of contract are aged between 16 to 24, with nearly 18% of all zero-hour contracts being in full-time education.

There is no doubt that the nearly 1 million people in the UK on this type of contract enjoy the flexibility offered while they pursue other opportunities or training, but it is becoming a worrying trend for companies to only offer this type of work to the young. Especially with reports of companies using settlement agreement solicitors to replace older fully contracted staff with new employees on zero-hour contracts.

Unpaid Internships

The problems surrounding zero-hour contracts mirror the issues faced by New Zealand before its' decision to ban zero-hour contracts. Having got rid of this problem, they have now found there is an alarming amount of unpaid internships sprouting up in their place.

While it has been very common in the United States for decades as a way for young people to get a job straight out of university, it’s growing presence in New Zealand and the UK is a worrying turn of events.

There is always going to be young people with wealthy parents who will be able to offer their services for free in an attempt to break into a competitive career, however it is concerning that companies are using the practise as a way of idea harvesting talent.

Companies hiring talented young people on unpaid internships will be able to use their ideas and talent without having to pay or provide them with any of the employment rights that they are entitled to.

The Future?

Regardless of what the pieces of paper or grades might have said this summer, the UK continues to produce a generation of incredibly talented young people ready to adapt to all the challenges that come with being part of generation Y.

Although it is up to the government and society to ensure that the new avenues that this generation is carving out for itself are not exploited and manipulated to fit the needs of an older generation hoping to hold on to everything it already has.