Supermarket bosses have written to the Prime Minister urging him to take urgent action to tackle the jobs crisis facing young people.
The CEOs of of Asda, Tesco, M&S, Sainsbury’s and Morrisons hit out at the lack of opportunities for young people and accused the government of making their plight worse with a bombardment of expensive regulation.
The letter, co-ordinated by the BRC, warns of a deepening unemployment crisis and urges the government to make it easier to employ workers to “turn around the fortunes of young people everywhere”.
The warning comes hot on the heels of the government review led by former health secretary Alan Milburn, which found that youth worklessness is costing the UK £125bn each year, largely in lost tax revenues and rising benefit payments.
Between January and March this year, over a million young people were categorised as ‘Neets’ (not in education, employment or training) – the highest number for more than 12 years.
The letter says retail is the UK’s most important entry point into work, accounting for almost a quarter of all youth employment, with hundreds of thousands of young people scouting their first job through flexible, local and seasonal opportunities provided by retailers.
It says over the past decade traditional routes into employment have disappeared because of the huge extra red tape and costs involved for employers.
The CEOs said the industry stood ready to help the government tackle the crisis but it needed to row back on regulation that was damaging the life chances of thousand of young people.
The letter calls on Starmer to establish a joint government retail taskforce to simplify and enhance routes into retail employment, bring down the cost of employing young people to create more jobs, and to implement new employment and skills reforms to support entry level recruitment.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said the Milburn report was a “call to arms” for the industry to demand action from the government.
She said: “The message from retail is clear. If government is serious about tackling youth unemployment it cannot keep making it more expensive to create jobs.
“Retail and its supply chain account for almost a quarter of all youth employment making our industry uniquely placed to support young people through flexible, entry level roles and clear routes for progression.
“But the first step on the ladder is cracking under the weight of government-imposed costs and regulations.
“Youth unemployment is a challenge that government and industry must tackle together.”
The moves by supermarket bosses follow last week’s relaunch by the IGD of its Feeding Britain’s Future, with what it said was a “bold” new programme to tackle the workforce crisis threatening the food industry’s future.
The plans were announced to engage every UK secondary school by 2030, reverse the huge numbers of school leavers not in education, employment or training, and inspire a new generation to make careers in food and drink.
The Grocer revealed in February that IGD was to relaunch the programme, which has first unveiled in 2012, after warning looming workforce shortages posed a major threat to companies across retail and manufacturing.
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