Digital skills programme to tackle youth unemployment rolled-out
Joe Lepper
Thursday, February 4, 2021
A government-backed programme is launching in four cities in England to improve young people’s digital skills and tackle rising youth unemployment.
On offer to young people in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Leeds is a place on a five-week course to learn the technology skills needed for customer support roles.
Those taking part will then be offered career coaching for a further six months as well as opportunities for permanent roles with local employers. The first intake of students on the course are enrolling this month.
Skills covered include communicating with the public over a range of channels, including webchat, social media, email and phone.
Support on filling out application forms is also available through the course, which is aimed at 18- to 29-year-olds.
The Digital Customer Support Programme is being run by not-for-profit organisation Generation UK and backed by the Department for Educatio and councils as well as employers.
The course has been initially rolled-out in Manchester and Birmingham, followed by courses in London and Leeds within months.
Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that the number of young people aged 16-24 in work between August and October last year dropped by 90,000.
Youth employment is 3.51 million, the lowest level on record.
“Young people in the UK are disproportionately suffering from rising levels of unemployment in the wake of covid, and unfortunately many pathways into work have been shut down,” said Generation UK chief executive Michael Houlihan.
“This new programme will help young people across the country to gain the skills needed to enter a segment of the economy that we know to be growing and recruiting.
“Today digital skills are in even greater demand and by working with the government, local authorities and employment partners we are able to help young people, often from disadvantaged backgrounds, to overcome the barriers into a new career.”
Funding is also being made available from a Fast Track Digital Workforce Fund, which is run by Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) and Lancashire Digital Skills Partnership.
GMCA skills and digital lead Sean Fielding said: “This exciting new programme will enable our residents who have been the hardest hit by this pandemic to gain valuable skills and support to gain meaningful employment.”
According to the Prince’s Trust, four out of ten young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) are struggling to “cope with life” amid the coronarvirus pandemic.
