Better prepared: essential skills and employment outcomes for young people

The transition of young people from education into employment between the ages of 16 and 25 is always a challenging one. The [COVID-19] pandemic has once again had a disproportionate impact on young people - both through disruption to education, and the oversized damage to the retail and hospitality industries that often act as a critical bridge for young people into employment. This has placed further emphasis on essential skills and their critical importance to supporting an effective transition into the world of work - a relevance increasingly echoed by both educators and employers. While there is some evidence that essential skills support effective transitions and workplace progression, the emergence of the Skills Builder Universal Framework as a shared approach to defining essential skills and quantifying progress provides a new opportunity. This research sets out to use new data gathered with YouGov to explore three questions: (1) Who has essential skills, and how does this vary by socio-economic background? (2) How young people build essential skills, and what are their attitudes to them? (3) What is the impact of essential skills on earnings and qualifications level?

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