Opening Doors: How Employers are Creating Pathways into Skilled Careers for Young People Part 2

In the second part of our special feature for FE News to mark Youth Employment Week, Alison Morris, Director of Policy at Skills Federation brings together members Amina Chowdhury, Policy Officer at Enginuity and Jake Wall, Policy Manager at techUK, to discuss how employers are opening up opportunities for young people and helping them build successful careers in the tech and engineering and manufacturing sectors.

Alison: Youth Employment Week is an opportunity to celebrate young people’s contribution to the workforce, while also recognising the challenges many face in accessing opportunities. What are you seeing in your sector, and what do you think are the biggest opportunities for young people entering employment today?

Jake: Look, the job market is tough for young people right now. Recent LinkedIn data shows some of the sharpest entry-level declines have been in occupations like software engineering and data analysis, and also points to the very real issue of skills mismatches. Employers increasingly want more advanced or specific skills, including work-ready human capabilities, which are usually gained through experience.

There’s opportunity here too, though. Tech is still a growth sector and Skills England estimates we’ll need another 488,000 workers by 2035. Another report by UK ITSS highlights shortages of technical professionals across fields like AI, cyber and semiconductors – with almost 40% of the semiconductors workforce expected to retire within 15 years. But it’s not just technical: junior sales and customer-facing roles are growing now. 

Meeting this demand needs a strong pipeline of talent with the right skills, and young people are central to it.

Amina: What really stands out is the mismatch in front of us: strong and growing demand for technical skills like welding, alongside too many young people still not in work, education or training. We’re already seeing shortages of tens of thousands of skilled workers, and that pressure will only grow as infrastructure and clean energy projects accelerate.

This should really be a no-brainer. These are skilled, well-paid, high-value careers that sit at the heart of the UK economy, but too many young people don’t know they exist.

The challenge now is alignment: making small but important adjustments to skills and employment policy so young people are better supported and signposted into these routes, and employers are able to open up clearer, more accessible pathways into work. If we can get this right – and do a better job of showcasing vocational training and the breadth of careers in engineering and manufacturing – we can start to close the gap between employer demand and untapped potential in the next generation.

Alison: We’ve heard a lot about barriers facing many sectors in recruiting young people into industry. Can you give an example of how your industry is supporting young people at different stages of the career pathway?

Jake: There are some really great examples of how tech companies are supporting young people. Take the AI bootcamps pilot announced recently. Young people at risk of becoming not in education, employment or training (NEET) receive free, practical AI training and then, crucially, a guaranteed paid apprenticeship with organisations including techUK members BAE Systems, PA Consulting and Agilisys. 

Multiverse has also just launched an AI-first apprenticeship specifically for career starters helping them build their data and AI skills, as well as workplace behaviours and confidence. Then there are degree apprenticeships – backed by employer-led accreditation such as Tech Industry Gold by Tech Skills – allowing young people to learn and earn while working towards a degree and skilled job. 

It’s also really important that employers are thinking about creating inclusive pathways into work for young people. Cisco, for example, offers hybrid and virtual work experience and has built neuroinclusive support into its programmes, from tailored induction to office environments designed around the different ways people work and process information.

Amina: The Cornwall Manufacturers Group (CMG) Academy is a fantastic example of what happens when employers, colleges and schools work together. What’s striking is how early it starts – recruitment begins at year 10. 

Employers co-design the curriculum with Cornwall College, so training reflects real industry needs, and students get meaningful workplace experience alongside their studies. Importantly, there are clear progression routes into both apprenticeships and further study. 

The results speak for themselves: the first cohort achieved a 100% achievement rate, with 40% securing apprenticeships with local manufacturers. 

The Academy showcases the power of locally led, collaborative partnerships. It’s a call for action: government should incentivise and formalise employer co-design of apprenticeships and vocational training, to ensure training reflects real labour market demand, as well as exploring how successful local initiatives like this can be scaled. 

Alison: What is the particular role that sector skills bodies can play in supporting young people into employment and through their career pathway?

Jake: I think sector bodies and trade associations are a valuable bridge between what’s happening on the ground and what’s going on in government. We can work with government, helping to close the gap between the skills young people leave education with and the ones employers need, and support the delivery of national programmes like TechFirst. 

We’re already in the room on the tech sector jobs plan, and techUK also recently joined the Early Careers Jobs Alliance so that we can bring in real evidence from our sector on employment and AI adoption, how our members are using technology to expand opportunity, and a clear view on what good practice looks like.

Amina: Sector skills bodies are there to join the dots between what industry actually needs and how people access those opportunities. At Enginuity, that means turning insight on skills gaps into practical action – for example through programmes like Enspiring Futures . It’s also about bringing employers, providers and government together to make pathways clearer and more aligned to real jobs. Enginuity’s Policy Centre for Supply Chains and SMEs provides a platform to bring employer voices directly into policy conversations and help shape practical, workable solutions.         

We can also bring together industry insight, policy levers and real, tangible opportunity to help create a more joined-up system. 

Alison: If you could change one thing about the current system to make it easier for employers to attract, develop and retain young talent, what would it be?

Jake: Considering recent youth employment interventions from government, I’d be looking at the impact of Growth and Skills Levy fiscal drag and wage inflation on SMEs. The threshold for paying the Levy hasn’t moved in years, so as wages rise, more and more SMEs tip over it. When that happens, they lose access to targeted incentives and funding designed to help firms like them take on young apprentices, and we end up penalising small employers for growing right at the point we want them to give an opportunity to a young person.

Amina: While well-intentioned, current government incentives aren’t quite hitting the mark, especially for SMEs. Crucially, they fail to offset the real cost of investing in young people, which is why we’re exploring ideas with the Learning and Work Institute for how a skills tax credit might work. 

But it’s not only about funding. SMEs are short on time and capacity, so we need more collaborative models. Good examples can be seen in Austria and Germany where businesses can share training and resources. Making investment in skills simpler and more flexible would benefit both employers and young people.

Alison: There is often a great deal of concern about the future of youth employment, from economic uncertainty to the impact of AI and changing skills needs. What gives you the greatest cause for optimism about the next generation entering the workforce?

Jake: It has to be the young people themselves. Although there is a lot of doom and uncertainty at the moment, there is also strong evidence that the generation coming through is highly entrepreneurial and purpose-driven. Samsung’s recently published research found that over 200,000 teenagers identify as founders, with 15% starting businesses focused on solving real-world problems. And where some see disruption, they see opportunity, with a huge majority using new technologies like AI to help them do it. This is exactly the type of self-motivated and innovative thinking our country and economy needs.

Amina: What gives me optimism is seeing more practical investment in inspiring young people from an early age. Initiatives like the “Kids Invent Stuff” exhibition at Gulliver’s Valley, funded by Innovate UK and Enginuity, are helping children discover engineering through hands-on experiences, long before they are making career decisions. It’s only fitting that the grand opening of the “Invention Shed” at Gulliver’s Valley is happening this week – Youth Employment Week!

Ultimately, what excites me most is that the conversation is shifting – there’s a growing recognition of the value of practical, industry-led routes, and a real willingness to rethink how we engage with and invest in the next generation.  

By Alison Morris, Director of Policy at Skills Federation; Amina Chowdhury, Policy Officer at Enginuity and Jake Wall, Policy Manager at techUK

You can find Part 1 here.