The government is investing £1.5 million to support recruitment into the aviation industry, helping ensure it has the workers it needs to meet the unprecedented demand for travel

after the pandemic.

To propel young people into aviation, the government has confirmed £700,000 for a Reach for the Sky Challenge Fund, which will fund outreach programmes and events to educate young people from all backgrounds on the opportunities on offer in aviation. The scheme will support Generation Aviation – a new campaign which will see government working with industry to increase the number of people applying for jobs in the sector.

Read more on how the employment of men and women aged 16 to 64 years with children has changed over the past two decades and what the current picture looks like.

 

The Kickstart Awards come as the latest data shows that 7 out of 10 young people had earnings four months after their Kickstart job ended, showing its success in providing young people with the right skills to enter the labour market.

Launched in September 2020, the scheme secured over 163,000 jobs for young people nationwide as part of the government’s drive to help those aged 16-24 start their career and gain vital work experience.

Ofsted’s new inspection standards will include a “sub judgement” on how well colleges are meeting the skills needs of the economy. This strategy comes as the government introduces new local skills improvement plans and amongst reforms outlined in the post Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022. Colleges will be judged on whether the college’s contribution to skills needs is limited; reasonable; or strong.

 

“This evaluation will take into account not just skills needed immediately for employment, including for those already in employment, but also skills which are necessary to ensure students’ progress towards employment, in necessary stages by means of further and higher education, training, work experience and increased personal independence at all levels,” Ofsted said.

Read more Here.

 

New tax cuts worth £6 billion mean that the pay level at which national insurance contributions begin will increase from £9,880 to £12,570. 70% of workers will now pay less National Insurance tax despite the Health and Social Care Levy and 2.2 million people will be lifted out of the bracket for paying NI altogether. This is the largest personal tax cut in a decade and will mean that millions of people working across hundreds of different industries across the UK will now be better off.

Use this government calculator to see how these tax cuts will affect you.

Read more Here.

The government’s “Way to Work” drive which was launched in January in the midst of a record number of vacancies has been successful in getting half a million benefit claimants into work in less than 6 months.

“Way to Work” has been successful in getting half a million benefit claimants into work in less than 6 months. The scheme was introduced in the midst of a record number of vacancies that we have seen since the pandemic. Employers have welcomed the benefit of saving on recruitment costs and being able to fill vacancies quickly. Unemployment is currently at its lowest level in 40 years and with the success of the “Way to Work” drive the approach of bringing job seekers face to face with employers will continue. 

Former Minister for Employment Mims Davies stated:

“After this huge success, we’re determined to get everyone, at any age or career stage, the support they need to get back into work.”

Read more Here

 

TUC: Insecure low-paid work is costing the Treasury £10 billion a year

The TUC (Trade Union Congress) have stressed more needs to be done to support lowest paid workers. They warn insecure low-paid work costs Treasury £10bn a year as it reduces the government’s tax take and increases social security pay outs.

READ MORE HERE

1,000 women have got jobs in the construction and engineering sector, thanks to a partnership between DWP and Women into Construction. Women into Construction has been partnering with DWP to support unemployed women into the construction sector since 2008. The partnership supports those DWP jobseekers who wouldn’t ordinarily consider a career in this sector to explore their options in a supported environment, thanks to the in depth 1-2-1 support provided by the Women into Construction team. Since then, Women into Construction has supported thousands of women into employment in the sector, through their employment programmes in London, Birmingham, Cambridge, Norfolk, and Essex.

For more detail see here

A report from the Resolution Foundation – Exploring changing trends in youthworklessness in the UK, from the 1990’s to the Covid-19 pandemic (Report dated 13 th June 2022).

– The fall in worklessness has been a success story of recent decades, driving
in large part by young women
– The make-up of youth worklessness has been transformed, with economic
inactivity among young men almost doubling between 1995 and 2021
–  A dramatic fall in the number of young women who are inactive for family care
reasons, and an increase in the number of young people who are inactive due
to health problems.
– But there is a risk that the good progress in youth worklessness that has been
seen in recent decades will be undone.

For further detail for the executive summary or to download see here

Wages are failing to keep up with the rate of inflation as unemployment rises and the cost of living continues to increase.

The office for national statistics (ONS) has found that regular pay (not including bonuses) has decreased by 3.4% since April; this is the sharpest decline since records began. This is hitting public sector workers even harder as their regular pay is decreasing by 6% a year. The figures show that the rapid increase in inflation provoked by the war in Ukraine and recovery from the economic impact of the pandemic cannot be matched by wages as we find ourselves in a cost of living crisis.

The ONS also found that companies were having issues with recruitment and that although unemployment has risen there are 40,000 more people who are out of work but are actively seeking employment than in April. 

Read more here