Youth perspectives: What will the future of work in the UK look like?

What will work in the UK look like in the next 10 years? How will people learn? Who is inspiring the next generation? All questions to which we would like to know the answers. Given that none of us has the gift of future sight, the best we can do is ask young people (and adults) what they think is likely to happen, and where they see themselves in the future.

Our forthcoming report, Making Sure Tomorrow Works, is a peek into the future through the eyes of 1500 young people aged 14 to 20, and a comparison with the views of 1000 adults. The City & Guilds Centre for Skills Development asked some key questions and the results might surprise you.

Confidence and concerns
We found that young people are optimistic for their own futures, although they are less so for the UK as a whole. They strongly believe that hard work and skills are rewarded, and they think that they themselves will have a decent standard of living, and may well own their own home in 10 years’ time. However, they have doubts about the UK economy maintaining its global competitiveness, and they are unconvinced that people in their generation will be as financially wealthy as their parents.

Girls are not quite as interested as boys in gaining enterprise skills, and are less likely to see self-employment in their future. Confidence in careerchoices increases with age from 14 to 20. Those from higher qualified/occupational backgrounds are concerned about their lack of a clear idea about which career to choose, but it is those from lower qualified/occupational backgrounds who want better sources of advice.

The desire to improve mathematics skills is much higher among those from less highly qualified/occupational backgrounds. There is a great deal of commonality in the views of adults and young people in certain areas (such as the future costs of learning and lifelong learning). However, adults were less convinced than young people that a good degree from a good university remains the best guarantee of a good career throughout life and were more worried than young people about the value of their pension, but 47% of young people still express concern about how valuable their pension will be during retirement.

Conclusions
So, what do the results really tell us? They raise a lot of questions about how young people are interpreting the messages they receive about what the future might look, and how they are preparing. One thing is for certain, young people are ready and willing to work hard. They are taking very little for granted, and it is up to all of us to help them prepare.

There are some key messages for employers (young people are ambitious, and you can make the most of this), for government and policy-makers (young people need careers guidance and work experience to develop realistic expectations and ambitions), for all of us (girls need more and better role models in business), and for careers guidance providers (all young people are struggling with some aspect of career planning, and you have a great opportunity to help them make good choices).

Are you ready to play your part in making sure tomorrow works?

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