The geography of youth unemployment: a route map for change

Lizzie Crowley and Nye Cominetti
08 April 2014

In this report we investigate how young people’s employment prospects vary in different parts of the country, why tailored local approaches are necessary, and what the role of local partners should be in tackling youth unemployment. There is a distinctive geographic pattern to youth unemployment in the UK. For example, in cities such as Middlesbrough, Barnsley and Glasgow the youth unemployment rate is more than twice that of cities such as Southampton, York and Reading (above 25% in the former, and below 13% in the latter three.

The report:

• provides an overview of the geography of youth unemployment in Britain’s major towns and cities;
• sets out some of the reasons why there are significant geographic disparities between places in the level of youth unemployment;
• provides an overview of the current youth policy context and some of the challenges it presents;
• sets out a series of policies to address the local youth unemployment challenge; and,
• sets out a number of conclusions.

Thanks to Patrick Ainley for the link