A minister has suggested that unemployed young people should consider joining the military instead of attending university after the number of young people not in work or education reached a 12-year-high.
Veterans minister Louise Sandher-Jones said that young people struggling to progress in their careers should think “seriously” about a career in the armed forces.
She told The Telegraph: “A really key message to get out there to young people is when you’re looking at options in front of you, whether it’s university or whether you’re looking for a trade apprenticeship, really seriously take a look at the armed forces.”
The Labour MP, a retired captain who served in Afghanistan, added that “the breadth of careers you can go into with the armed forces is much broader than people realise.”
Her comments come after the interim publication of a report into economic inactivity and young people by Alan Milburn on Thursday. The former Labour health minister warned that Britain could see hundreds of thousands more young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) by the early 2030s without urgent government intervention
Official data also released on Thursday shows that the number of people aged 16-24 with Neet status has reached 1.01 million – the highest since the late 2010s following the 2008 financial crash.
Ms Sandher-Jones added: “Looking at the generation behind me and seeing how many fewer opportunities they have is just outrageous. It’s the real challenge for this government.”
Focusing on trade apprenticeships, the defence minister said that the scheme offered by Rolls Royce is a “gold standard,” which she would “take that over a place at Oxbridge any day.”
She added that the alternative to university has not been “well communicated to young people” in the past.
“We have a very clear pathway from school to university, which is great. [But] we don’t highlight the benefits that [doing] an apprenticeship can do.”
Labour revealed in February that it was giving new job centre work coaches training on Army and Royal Air Force bases about the benefits of military careers.
Ministers hope the initiative will drive “tens of thousands” young people into the Armed Forces, cutting Neet figures whilst boosting defence capacity.
Young people aged 16 and over can begin an apprenticeship in the military, which can involve training in engineering, healthcare and cyber skills.
However, a poll of 2,000 young people aged 16 to 29 commissioned by the John Smith Centre at Glasgow University and released last month revealed that half said they would never take up arms for Britain.
Chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, Steven Evans, commented: “It feels unlikely this is going to put a big dent in the Neet numbers. We’re not going to take on a couple of hundred thousand people in the Army,”
“I don’t know how many of those million young people are going to want to go into the Army [and] I have not heard much about how many extra places [the government] are going to offer.”