A government minister has suggested that unemployed young people should consider joining the military instead of pursuing university education, following a rise in the number of young people not in work or education to a 12-year high.
Veterans minister Louise Sandher-Jones stated that young people struggling to advance in their careers ought to give serious thought to a future in the armed forces. Speaking to The Telegraph, the Labour MP and retired Army captain who served in Afghanistan said: “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.” She emphasised that the range of careers available within the military is far wider than commonly perceived.
Her remarks follow the interim release of a report on economic inactivity among young people by Alan Milburn on Thursday. The former Labour health minister cautioned that without urgent government action, Britain could see hundreds of thousands more young people classified as NEET (not in employment, education or training) by the early 2030s. Official data released the same day revealed that the number of 16- to 24-year-olds with NEET status has reached 1.01 million, the highest since the late 2010s after the 2008 financial crisis.
Ms Sandher-Jones expressed dismay at the limited opportunities available to the younger generation, calling it “outrageous” and a key challenge for the government. She praised trade apprenticeships, particularly the scheme offered by Rolls Royce, describing it as a “gold standard” that she would “take that over a place at Oxbridge any day.” She argued that the value of apprenticeships has not been effectively communicated to young people in the past.
In February, Labour announced it would provide new job centre work coaches with training on Army and Royal Air Force bases to promote military careers. Ministers hope this initiative will direct “tens of thousands” of young people into the armed forces, thereby reducing NEET figures while strengthening defence capacity. Young people aged 16 and over can start military apprenticeships in fields such as engineering, healthcare, and cyber skills.
However, a recent poll of 2,000 young people aged 16 to 29, commissioned by the John Smith Centre at Glasgow University, found that half said they would never take up arms for Britain. Steven Evans, chief executive of the Learning and Work Institute, 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.”
