My Kids Did Everything Right. The Government Made It Harder Anyway.

I have six children. Two of them are stuck right now, desperate to launch their careers and going nowhere.

That's not an anecdote. That's my kitchen table.

And while I watch them apply, reapply, and hear nothing back, Keir Starmer appears on the news saying the government is doing everything it can for young people.

The gap between what I'm hearing and what I'm seeing has never felt wider.

The Numbers Don't Lie

Over one million young people aged 16-24 are now not in education, employment or training. That's the first time we've hit that mark since 2013. In just one year, that number rose by 89,000.

Youth unemployment hit 16.2% in March 2026. After falling to 9.2% in July 2022, the rate has climbed higher than it was during the COVID-19 pandemic. There are now 729,000 young people aged 16-24 who are unemployed.

Lord Simon Wolfson, CEO of Next, put it plainly. Two years ago, a shop-floor vacancy at Next attracted around 10 applicants. Today it attracts 19. Applications rose 76% while vacancies fell 35%. His conclusion: "That doubling of applicants for shop jobs is indicative of just how big the crisis is in youth unemployment at the moment."

This isn't a blip. This is a structural shift happening in real time at one of the biggest employers in the country.

The Policy That Broke the Ladder

In April 2025, the government raised employer National Insurance contributions from 13.8% to 15%. They also lowered the secondary threshold from £9,100 to £5,000 per year.

For someone earning the average UK salary of £36,000, that means an extra £937.80 per year in employer costs. For a part-time worker on minimum wage doing 20 hours a week, the monthly employer National Insurance bill nearly tripled, jumping from just over £32 to more than £96.

At the same time, the minimum wage for 18-20 year olds rose 16.3% to £10.00 per hour. For 16-17 year olds and apprentices, it jumped 18% to £7.55 per hour.

The message from government was clear: we're helping young workers earn more.

The reality for employers was different: we've just made hiring young people significantly more expensive.

Rational Decisions, Silent Damage

Businesses aren't cruel. They're rational.

When the cost of employing someone rises, you don't hire as many people. When the cost of making a mistake goes up, you stop taking chances on first-timers. When margins are already tight, you hire the person with experience over the person with potential.

A British Chambers of Commerce survey found that 58% of UK businesses expect the National Insurance rise to directly impact hiring decisions. Graduate hiring fell 8% year-on-year, and the overall entry-level market contracted 5%.

The first rung of the career ladder doesn't disappear with an announcement. It vanishes quietly, one decision at a time, across thousands of businesses that simply can't afford to say yes anymore.

What Six Months Out of Work Really Costs

Six months unemployed at 19 is not the same as six months unemployed at 40.

At 40, you have a CV. You have references. You know how to show up on time, how to talk to customers, how to manage a shift. You've learned the foundational habits of work.

At 19, you're supposed to be learning those things. And you can only learn them by doing.

I remember pushing trolleys around Safeway when I was 16. That job taught me how to talk to people, how to get somewhere on time, how to dress properly for work. You get the basic skills of going to work at an early age.

The longer people can't get on the ladder, the harder the ladder is to climb.

Analysis shows that over half of those not in education, employment or training had a health condition in 2025. One in five reported having a mental health condition. Time spent out of work doesn't just delay a career. It damages mental health, erodes confidence, and increases the likelihood of unemployment and low wages later in life.

The Double Cost to the State

Here's the part that should terrify any Chancellor looking at the books.

When a young person can't find work, the state pays twice.

First, you lose the tax income they would have contributed. Then you pay out benefits to support them. That's the double bubble hit.

But it gets worse. The mental health system then has to absorb the toll of a generation that feels like society has nothing for them. The government launched an independent investigation into youth inactivity in November 2025, focusing specifically on mental health conditions and disability as barriers to workforce participation.

You can't tax your way out of a problem you taxed your way into.

What I Tell My Kids

Life isn't fair.

Some people will get opportunities you don't get. Some people will know the right people. Some people will start ten steps ahead of you.

You can't control any of that.

What you can control is whether you're the person who keeps turning up.

When you're struggling to get a job, don't sit at home waiting for someone to choose you. Learn something. Build something. Volunteer somewhere. Help somebody. Create evidence that you're worth a chance.

Every skill you learn and every experience you gain makes the next conversation easier.

Most people give up too soon. The people who succeed aren't always the cleverest. They're often the people who stayed in the game when everyone else got fed up.

Your first job doesn't define your future. Your first rejection doesn't define your future. Your first setback doesn't define your future.

Keep moving. Keep learning. Keep showing up.

Because eventually someone will give you a chance. And when they do, be so prepared that they wonder how they ever nearly overlooked you.

What Needs to Happen Now

This isn't a problem for five years from now. It's a problem right now.

Every month that passes, more young people miss that first chance. The chance to learn how work works. The chance to build confidence. The chance to develop skills. The chance to earn their own money and create a future.

Once someone has been out of work for six months, a year, two years, the challenge becomes much bigger.

At the same time, thousands of hospitality, retail and service businesses are being asked to absorb rising costs while trying to create opportunities. These are the very industries that have traditionally given young people their first step onto the ladder.

If government policy makes it harder and more expensive to employ people, then fewer opportunities get created.

It really is that simple.

Here's what would actually help:

Make it cheaper to hire young people. Remove employer National Insurance for under 25s in their first full-time job. If it costs less to hire a young person, more employers will take the risk.

Reduce the risk of getting it wrong. Create a fund that covers the cost when a new recruit leaves or fails probation. Many employers fear getting recruitment wrong. Remove the fear.

Support the businesses willing to give them a chance. Hospitality, retail, and service sectors are struggling. They're also the sectors that create the most entry-level opportunities. Help them, and you help young people.

Create more entry points into work. Allow employers to offer paid four-week work trials with reduced employment regulations. A trial reduces the barrier for both sides.

The Message to Government

Don't spend the next two years debating the problem.

Fix it.

Reduce the cost of employing young people. Support the businesses willing to give them a chance. Create more entry points into work.

Because every month you delay, another group of young people falls further behind.

And the cruel reality is that by the time the statistics fully show the damage, it will already be too late for many of the people those policies were supposed to help.

I'm watching it happen at my own kitchen table. I'm seeing it in our application numbers at work. Lord Wolfson is seeing it at Next. The data confirms it across the country.

The first rung is disappearing.

And we're running out of time to put it back.