\n<\/p>\n
Young people in the UK are more likely to leave their job for health reasons and become economically inactive when they work in insecure, low-paid sectors, a study has found.<\/p>\n
Research carried out for the Trades Union Congress by the consultancy Timewise charts a connection between the jobs young people are most likely to do \u2013 in hospitality, retail and care, for example \u2013 and the proportion of people leaving because of ill health.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe occupations that young people are concentrated in are associated with high numbers of people moving into long-term sickness and worklessness,\u201d the analysis said.<\/p>\n
The authors said that these sectors were also among those most likely to offer precarious or low-paid jobs.<\/p>\n
More than 40% of staff in accommodation and food services are in insecure working arrangements, for example. That includes zero-hours contracts, agency working or low-paid self-employment.<\/p>\n
The chief executive of Timewise, Clare McNeil, said: \u201cInsecure and poor-quality jobs are contributing to a rising epidemic of inactivity amongst the young, who have the most precarious, low-mobility jobs of all.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur analysis shows that expecting young people to take up insecure, physical, inflexible work when they are facing a disability or mental health problems is futile \u2013 too often these jobs don\u2019t work and they don\u2019t last.\u201d<\/p>\n
By analysing flows out of work and into long-term sickness in official data, the research found these were highest in sectors where young people were disproportionately likely to be employed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree sectors that account for the highest volumes of workers moving into economic inactivity due to ill health are also the sectors where young people are most likely to work: wholesale and retail, food and accommodation and health and social care,\u201d the study said.<\/p>\n
The research also showed that roles most at risk of long-term inactivity because of sickness included hospital porters, road transport drivers, kitchen staff and leisure and theme park attendants.<\/p>\n
The authors said the findings showed the forthcoming government-commissioned review of youth inactivity, by the former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, should focus on job quality, as well as quantity.<\/p>\n
<\/span>Alan Milburn is expected to report on tackling youth unemployment this summer.<\/span> Photograph: Neil Hall\/EPA<\/p>\n The latest official figures showed that 957,000 people aged 16-24 were not in employment, education or training (Neet) in the final three months of 2025 \u2013 13% of the total. Almost half of this group have ill health or a disability.<\/p>\n Milburn is expected to publish a report this summer on how to tackle the recent rise in youth inactivity. The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, has already announced a separate, \u00a31bn scheme aimed at tackling youth unemployment, which will offer employers \u00a33,000 to take on a young person who has been out of work for six months or more.<\/p>\n Milburn recently warned that today\u2019s parents are concerned that their children will fare worse than they did. \u201cThere\u2019s a broader fear that parents and grandparents have, that their kids \u2026 are not going to do as well as we\u2019ve done,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s the first time that\u2019s really happened in a century. I think people feel that the social contract that we\u2019ve had in society, that each generation would do better than the last, is now being broken.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul Nowak, the TUC\u2019s secretary general, said the link between job quality and economic inactivity underlined the importance of implementing the government\u2019s Employment Rights Act.<\/p>\n \u201cYoung people need good secure jobs with decent prospects, including notice of their shifts and sick pay when they\u2019re ill. But too often they\u2019re stuck in insecure, low-paid work which leaves them at greater risk of dropping out of the workforce due to ill health,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s why the Employment Rights Act is so important and must be implemented in full.\u201d<\/p>\n Some aspects of the act, including the right to statutory sick pay and paternity leave from day one of employment, come into force this month, while others, including the right to have reasonable notice of shift patterns, will follow in 2027.<\/p>\n Kate Nicholls, chair of UKHospitality, said: \u201cHospitality is proven to offer quality, fulfilling and flexible pathways into work and careers \u2013 whether it\u2019s a young person\u2019s first job or a flexible, supportive role for someone entering back into work.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ever-rising cost of employment, which particularly punishes the availability of entry-level, part-time and flexible roles, is one of the main driving forces behind the rising number of young people not in work.\u201d<\/p>\n Helen Dickinson, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium, said <\/strong>retail was \u201cbuilt on flexible, local jobs that serve as vital entry points for young people \u2026 If implementation of certain provisions within the Employment Rights Act, such as guaranteed hours, treat flexibility as insecurity by default, employers would become more cautious and that in turn would reduce the availability of such crucial opportunities in communities right across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Young people in the UK are more likely to leave their job for health reasons and become economically inactive when they work in insecure, low-paid sectors, a study has found. Research carried out for the Trades Union Congress by the consultancy Timewise charts a connection between the jobs young people are most likely to do<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":47856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[37,24090,2622,2957,19422,364,6591,2625,801],"class_list":{"0":"post-47855","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-insecure","10":"tag-jobs","11":"tag-leave","12":"tag-lowpaid","13":"tag-people","14":"tag-reasons","15":"tag-unemployment","16":"tag-young"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=47855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/47856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=47855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=47855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=47855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}