By The economic cost of youth unemployment, in terms of lost national output, is forecast to rise to £6.9 billion in 2022, according to a recent report.
The report, from the Learning and Work Institute and Prince’s Trust, also found that The long-running cost to young people entering the labour market in 2021, in terms of lost earnings and damage to employment prospects, is forecast to be £14.4 billion over the next seven years.
Managing Director of Chamber of Commerce, Suzanne Caldwell. said: “There’s no doubt that young people have suffered under the pandemic.
“Unemployment has almost doubled in the last year but, for those aged 16 to 24, it’s more than doubled.
“That’s mainly because young people are more likely to work in sectors such as retail and hospitality, which have been hit hardest by lockdown.
“This is a criminal waste. It’s a cliché that young people are our future because we have an ageing population. We need to nurture young talent to replace people who are retiring.”
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Unemployment data released by the Office for National Statistics showed that under-25s make up two thirds of the 700,000 job losses since the start of the pandemic.
Evidence suggests that a period of youth unemployment can have corrosive and long-lasting impacts on young people, leading to lower employment and lower earnings for years to come.
According to a recent report by the BBC, young black people have been hardest hit by unemployment during the pandemic, new research indicates.
Over the past year, the UK jobless rate for young black people rose by more than a third to 35%, the Resolution Foundation think tank said.
That compared with a rate of 24% for young people of Asian descent and a rate of 13% for young white people, both up three percentage points.
The foundation said Covid had widened existing gaps between ethnic groups.
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