As teenagers open their A-Level results, Andrew Griffith laments a job market that is punishing today’s young people

As youngsters across England and Wales get their all-important A-level results today, a prosperous job as the reward for further years of study may prove sadly elusive. Unemployment is rising, and many would say that today’s young people face the toughest job market in a generation.
The blame for this doesn’t sit at the doorstep of employers. It sits squarely in Whitehall, with the choices the Chancellor and her colleagues have made over the last 12 months.

Businesses have a natural optimism, so it takes a lot for them to throw in the towel and stop hiring. Unfortunately, when faced with an onslaught of tax hikes laser-targeted directly at jobs, 300 pages of additional employment red tape and an uncertain outlook in a country which they know is spending above its means, they face little choice. There is a reticence to point out the obvious in public, but privately employers regularly bring up the 55 per cent increase since 2020 in the statutory wage for 18-21-years-olds set by........

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