PwC’s Young Workers Index, which weights eight indicators including employment, education and training for people aged 20-24, found Switzerland and Germany are the best performing EU countries, followed by Austria, Iceland and Norway.
Meanwhile, UK’s performance remains below the OECD average at 21st place out of 34, despite seeing an improvement since 2011.
According to the research, the results are consistent with other evidence that young people in the UK have been particularly hard hit by the economic downturn.
PwC’s economist John Hawksworth said, “Countries like Germany suffered much smaller rises in youth unemployment after the global recession because their systems of education, vocational training and apprenticeships minimise the number of young people falling through the labour market net.
“If the UK could reduce its NEETs [young person not in education, employment or training] rate to German levels, we estimate that the potential long-term boost to the UK economy could be around 3% of GDP, equivalent to around £55bn at today’s values.”
However, the firm welcomed the government’s plans to create millions of new apprenticeships, as this is encouraging businesses to work more closely with schools and colleges to ensure that young people have the skills they need to be employable.
PwC said research shows that failing to invest in young people’s skills has long-term economic costs in terms of lower lifetime employment and productivity levels.
Jon Andrews, head of the firm’s global people and organisation practice, said, “It is vital for businesses that they adapt their organisations to attract and retain new, young talent – by, for example, investing more in apprenticeships and professional training of younger workers.” Source: economia
