From learning to earning: understanding the school-to-work transition in London

Article

Young people today are better educated than their counterparts in the 1970s, but the average time it takes to secure stable work is much longer. This paper explores the nature of young people's transitions from school to work in the capital, with implications for national policy.

Reducing high youth unemployment depends on returning the economy as a whole to growth and high employment. But in the longer term, supporting smoother transitions from learning to earning will require a combined economic and skills strategy to improve the quality of the jobs available to young people and ensure that vocational courses support mobility and progression in the labour market.

A more strategic approach is required to ensure that local educational provision is joined up and caters to the diverse needs of young people. This paper makes four recommendations:

  1. Devolve commissioning responsibility to ensure a more strategic approach to education
  2. Improve the information available to inform young people's choices
  3. Raise the quality of vocational education
  4. Offer a 'something for something' deal to encourage employers to recruit and train young people

Related items

  1. Scale of the challenge: Obesity and the labour market

    Obesity has a well-known and profound impact on people’s health. Yet, less research has looked at the impact of obesity on prosperity.

  2. Mission-driven government: Delivering for the British public in an age of distrust and disruption

    This paper explores how and why the next government will need to be innovative in seeking to renew government for the 2020s.

  3. Forging ahead: Deciding the direction of IPPR's Migration Policy Unit

    In our last blog post for the Migration Policy Unit we shared our new way of working as we endeavour to be inclusive and transparent in our policymaking process. In this blog we set out what our first and flagship project is for the policy…