“Today’s employment figures reflect belt tightening and hiring freezes of many employers. Although we have seen early signs of optimism in March and early April, there is no getting away from the worrying numbers of those who are young and unemployed.
“Today’s school leavers and graduates find themselves in a vicious cycle competing with those young employees who were last to be employed and first to be laid off when downturn hit. As the market picks up, employers turn to those who possess the short experience and employment skills required to hit the ground running. The capacity just isn’t there to take on those fresh from school and university without them.
“In the long term, this skills gap will eventually close with initiatives such as apprenticeships. This doesn’t help those youngsters struggling in the short term though. More needs to be done today to encourage growing numbers of organisations to deliver work experience which will allow a lost generation of job seekers to compete and create a new talent pipeline for the future.”
About Adecco Group
Adecco Group is the global leader in employment services, connecting people to jobs through its network of 5500 offices in more than 60 territories. The services offered fall into the broad categories of temporary staffing, permanent placement, outsourcing, consulting and outplacement. The Adecco Group is a Fortune Global 500 company. In the UK alone Adecco Group has over 200 branches and a client base of organisations from all areas of commerce and industry. Adecco Group in the UK retains over 35,000 temporary workers with around 250 permanent staff placed each week.
