Slump deals job blow to the young
ALMOST half of firms were not planning to recruit school-leavers or graduates in the coming months as the recession continues to have a grim effect on job prospects, according to a new report today.
Young people were facing a “long, hot summer” looking for work because of the tough outlook for jobs, said the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
A survey of 500 companies showed that only one in five planned to take on 16-year-olds leaving school in the next few months.
The picture was slightly better for university graduates, although a third of employers said they had cut the number of university leavers they had taken on so far this year, while 45% of companies are not planning to recruit from either group in the coming months.
Gerwyn Davies, public policy adviser at the CIPD, said: “Employers have for a long time had doubts about the employability skills of those leaving education, and this year’s crop face employers in a more choosy mood than ever before.”
His comments echo those of Institute of Directors’ leader Miles Templeman. Speaking at last week’s annual conference of Teesside University Business School, he said: “We want universities to give us not only technical and specific knowledge skills but also the whole range of employability skills.”
