‘If the Welsh government wants to be radical: help young people get good work’

When I was a teenager, I worked in a sweater shop in the centre of Cardiff. It paid me £2.65 an hour and it was awful. But, it allowed me to save for my first pair of Nike trainers, which were just a bit more comfortable than the ones my parents had bought me from Woolworths.

I worked in another clothes shop after that. It was a hot summer day and everyone on the shopfloor – customers and staff – was melting. We researched the rules around workplace temperatures and confronted the boss. They shut the shop early. When we came in the next day, fans were blowing cold air around the shopfloor and we were told we could take water breaks.

I inherited my interest in workers’ rights from my father, who was an active trade unionist. But it was this time, working jobs in hospitality and retail, that allowed me to follow in his footsteps, turn my interest into action and take those first steps into my future career.

In other words, my work as a young person shaped who I am – and where I am – today. Even though this generation is facing different challenges, I believe they fundamentally want the same things we wanted when we were young. To earn their own money, to make their own choices, and start building a future that excites them.

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A good job ticks all of these boxes. Most importantly, it also gives young people the ability to find their passion, develop their skills and make connections that can open up new doors. Too many young people in Wales are being starved of that opportunity today.

The Challenge

The Milburn review of “Young People and Work”, commissioned by the UK Labour Government and published in May, made a big splash with its shocking headline figure that 1 in 8 people aged 16-24 were not in employment, education or training (NEET). Clearly, the issue of youth unemployment is bigger than any one policy, department orgovernment. And clearly now it demands a bigger and better response.

The challenge in Wales might be even bigger. According to our best estimates, from the end of last year, 1 in 6 young people in Wales are NEET. This should drive all of us to come together, think what we need to do differently – and then do it.

This issue is just as urgent as anything else we might discuss in politics. And yet, because we often refer to young people as “the future”, there is a temptation to see their issues as future issues. Lots of young people in Wales voted for a progressive government and that is what they expect. Growing up with Tory austerity, Covid and now a cost-of-living crisis, young people want to see a sense of urgency from their politicians and start feeling a tangible, positive difference in their lives.

Two months into this Plaid minority government, however, and young people in Wales are left with more questions than answers.

How is Plaid’s outsourced economic development agency going to create more opportunities in our communities?

When is Plaid going to properly fund additional learning needs in our schools?

Will this government back the Taith international exchange programme, introduced by Welsh Labour, beyond 2028?

And how is Plaid’s new employability support programme, set to replace Welsh Labour’s Young Person’s Guarantee, going to get more young people into good paid work?

The Future

If the Welsh Government wants to help more young people, it must tackle three big issues: job availability, quality and security.

Wales has a lower jobs density than England and Scotland, which means there are more working-age people competing for each job. According to the Office for National Statistics, there are more than three jobseekers for every one vacancy in Wales. That is more than twice the ratio in the South East of England. Artificial intelligence has already had an impact, and will continue to have an impact, on the number and nature of entry-level jobs.

These factors make it hard for young people in Wales to find work, especially if they are from disadvantaged backgrounds and don’t have connections who can give them a way in.

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Job quality is another metric where Wales lags behind. According to research by the Health Foundation, workers in Wales are more likely to experience multiple negative aspects of job quality than workers in Scotland, Northern Ireland, or any region of England.

Young workers in sectors like retail and hospitality get trapped with low pay, limited training and insecure work. Bullying and discrimination are real concerns. The danger is that, when young people face poor pay, poor treatment, and poor conditions, they think it’s normal and expect to face these problems for the rest of their careers.

That can have a serious impact on their mental health, self-belief and determination to succeed.This is why programmes like the World of Work, introduced by the previous Welsh Labour Government and TUC Cymru, are so important, giving resources to schools and colleges so they can teach our future workforce about their rights at work, the role of trade unions and the power of collective bargaining.

That is the best way to tackle this issue: together. Trade unions, employers, schools, colleges, universities, local authorities, and governments in Westminster and Wales.

With the social partnership model already established in Wales, and enshrined in Welsh law, we are uniquely positioned to make this happen.The next employability support programme, which we are expecting next year, must have an urgent laser-focus on getting people into well-paid and secure work. That will mean listening to the people who know these issues best, collaborating across party lines and rallyingemployers and trade unions to make it happen.

I want to see a Wales where every young person can reach their full potential – here in Wales, regardless of their background, ambition or any obstacles they must overcome.

So if the Welsh Government wants to build a better future, it should start helping them to get good work.

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