What Happens When There Aren’t Enough Jobs For Our Young People? | FE Soundbite Edition 844
Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 844: 25th April 2026. What Happens When There Aren’t Enough Jobs For Our Young People?
This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here’s a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles from sector influencers and thought leaders across FE and Skills this week on FE News.
Gavin’s Reflective Perspective
First up… thank you to all of you who battled the tube strikes to join us for the Bridging the SEND Transition Collective, it was awesome. What a brilliant day and I can’t wait to see Vikki Smith and Amanda Kirby’s report… but thank you to everyone who rolled up their sleeves and got stuck into the day… and thanks to Education and Training Foundation for making it happen!
V Levels confirmed and T Level resit flexibility on the cards
Also big news this week… Bridget Phillipson has written to Sir Ian Bauckham at Ofqual, confirming V Levels will be 360 guided learning hours, with a new concept of “partnered V Levels” where two V Levels can be taught in combination but awarded separately. That’s a really interesting move… it gives providers much more flexibility in how they build study programmes, and opens the door for subjects that need a bit more teaching volume to properly progress into higher level study.
She’s also asked Ofqual to consult on letting T Level students resit individual Core exam papers rather than the full set. Now this one feels really overdue… the current all or nothing approach has been a real barrier for students, and hopefully this change gives them a fairer shot at their best possible outcome.
The subject content consultation is open until 4 June, so if you have a view, now’s the time to get stuck in.
Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.9%, But Vacancy Levels At Their Lowest Since 2021
The latest ONS Labour Market details came out this week, with the unemployment rate dropping to 4.9% (from 5.2%)… but the vacancy levels are now at their lowest since 2021.
Early estimates for January to March 2026 suggest vacancies fell by 29,000 (3.9%) to 711,000. That’s the lowest level since February to April 2021, and an annual drop of 65,000 vacancies. That is a lot.
The UK economic inactivity rate for people aged 16 to 64 is estimated at 21%… one in five of working age, economically inactive.
711,000 Vacancies v 957,000 NEETs
Now here’s where it gets really interesting. When you compare those vacancy figures to the February 2026 ONS NEET data… there are 957,000 young people currently classified as NEET, up from 946,000 the previous quarter. There are only 711,000 vacancies in total being advertised across the whole economy. When you tally that together, it is pretty alarming.
Lessons From Yemen On Youth Employment and Entrepreneurship
Now the world is going through massive disruption at the moment. We had a really interesting piece from Mana Mohammed Al Ansari, the Chief of Economic Empowerment at Education Above All Foundation, looking at youth employment in Yemen: Rebuilding Youth Economic Pathways in Yemen.
According to the ILO, the employment rate in Yemen was 17.1% in 2024, but youth unemployment was dramatically higher at 32.4%. Women face especially severe exclusion, with female unemployment at 29.5%. And 75% of Yemenis are living in poverty… compare that to what we’ve just seen in the UK figures above and the scale is very stark.
Interestingly, Mana highlights: Yemen’s youth do not lack ambition. They lack an enabling environment. Now I personally think that translates to the UK as well. Mana discusses different entrepreneurship programmes for young people, which I think is really interesting… how could this transfer and translate to the UK? If there are literally not enough live vacancies for the number of NEETs, is there a way to provide training and development to help young people into start-ups in what is a fast-moving and disruptive world of work? Do we also need to be thinking about different working patterns… freelance, fractional, portfolio working?
NEETs Collective… 2nd June, London
Now we have completed the day event for the SEND Collective, why not join us on the 2nd June for the NEETs Collective (Breaking Barriers) in London in partnership with Edge. We are about to announce a seriously impressive line-up… we even have people from Treasury, part of Milburn’s team, who are joining us for the day and aren’t even on the panels, but coming to listen and work with everyone. These tickets are going to fly (and are)… so don’t have FOMO, grab your ticket for June and get involved!
I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
Rebuilding Youth Economic Pathways in Yemen: From Fragmentation to Opportunity By Mana Mohammed Al Ansari, the Chief of Economic Empowerment at Education Above All (EAA) Foundation
Why AI makes Business Education more Essential, not Obsolete By Lily Bi, President & CEO of AACSB International
How FE can help businesses grow, without expanding headcount By Adam Herbert, CEO & Co-founder, Go Live Data
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
AI in Assessment: What Ofqual Is Really Signalling By Kavitha Ravindran, Co-founder & Chief Growth Officer, sAInaptic
The Administrative Blind spot in Education Leadership By Alastair Luff, Chief Information Officer, MHR
What’s New in the World of FE?
Announcements
V Levels Confirmed at 360 GLH and T Level Resit Flexibility Proposed in Letter to Ofqual
ONS Labour Market April 2026, Unemployment Rate Drops To 4.9%, But Vacancy Levels At Their Lowest Level Since 2021 By the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Voices
Why Embracing Apprenticeship Assessment Reform Is the Reset Our System Needed By Kelle McQuade, Chief Operating Officer at Training Qualifications UK (TQUK) and Vice-Chair of the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB)
In The Know
We have big plans for upcoming Collectives, and you can get involved. We have learnt a lot from the Green Mindset Collective, and we are drawing from this on how to give people more of a voice.
Join us for the Breaking Barriers Collective event in partnership with Edge Foundation, working together collectively to solve the NEET puzzle.
This isn’t a conference; it’s a collective. It isn’t a chalk-and-talk event, but an interactive one. It’s rolling up your sleeves and making real change, where you get involved and actually give real input. Join us and help shape the sector!
By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News and