Young lose out
when 66 chase 
every shops job

The report by the York-based Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) highlights the scale of the task faced by young unemployed people looking for work.

It is published today, on the day the monthly unemployment statistics are also published.

Researchers studied three unnamed UK cities, one with a weak supply of jobs, one with a better supply and one in-between, and they sent 2,000 job applications from fictional candidates with at least five good GCSEs and relevant work experience to 667 real vacancies – sales assistants, cleaners, office administrators and kitchen hands.

Even in the stronger job market, there were 24 unemployed people chasing each retail vacancy available through Jobcentre Plus, and 50 for each office vacancy. In 
the weaker job market area, the figures were 66 and 44 respectively.

Chris Goulden, Head of Poverty at JRF, said: “A lack of success in the jobs market saps confidence, demotivates and leaves a 
scar across a generation of young people, while part-time, 
low-pay work traps people in poverty.

“On the day the latest unemployment statistics are released, this report makes for grim reading for young people. The intense competition shows the main problem is more fundamental – a major shortage of jobs.”

Prior to today’s latest figures there were more than a million 16 to 24-year-olds unemployed as young people struggle with one of the toughest job markets in decades.

Researchers spoke to one 22-year-old man who described taking his CV into a shop: “The other worker who wasn’t a manager threw it in the bin, because people are trying to protect their own jobs… it’s dog-eat-dog at the moment.”

The study, by researchers at University of York, University of Warwick and London School of Economics, also found:

Over two-thirds of applications received no response at all.

Seventy-eight per cent of the jobs applied for paid under £7 an hour, while 54 per cent offered the minimum wage. Just 24 per cent of the vacancies offered full-time, daytime work.

In the weak labour market, 10 jobseekers chased every job compared to five jobseekers in a strong one.

Jobseekers who do not have high-speed internet at home are at a substantial disadvantage and can only search for jobs sporadically, rather than the daily basis that is required.

Applications sent a week after jobs were first advertised were half as likely to receive positive responses as those sent in the first three days.

The research found there was strong evidence that good-quality applicants from neighbourhoods with poor reputations were not more likely to be rejected by employers. However, employers expressed a preference for local candidates with easy journeys to work.

Transport proved a big barrier for young people, with applicants reliant on public transport severely hindered. The report suggests jobseekers would benefit from extra intelligence and local knowledge from their Jobcentre Plus advisers about employers’ recruitment and selection practices to enable better targeting of applications.

However, even with this support, applying for work in the current climate is a thankless task for many young unemployed people, particularly if they live in weak job market areas.

Young people had responded to repeated rejection by volunteering, improving their qualifications and turning to friendship networks to enhance their job 
search.

Report co-author Prof Becky Tunstall, of the University of York, said: “Many jobseekers are prepared to take any job, but it’s hard to make work pay when many jobs offer short hours and low pay. Applicants face huge barriers when they take account of costs such as travel and childcare.”

Co-author, Prof Anne Green, University of Warwick, added that the research showed employers were not discriminating against candidates by postcode.

The report concludes: “Young people tend to be disproportionately disadvantaged during economic crisis and the current context presents the most challenging labour market for them in recent decades.”

Comment: Page 12.