McDonald’s targets jobless Gen Z with ‘UK’s largest work experience programme’
McDonald’s has launched the UK’s largest ever work experience programme in a major recruitment drive that will specifically target the ballooning number of young Brits that are neither working nor in full-time education.
The fast-food chain will hand out some 2,500 paid placements to young workers over the age of 16 as part of a nationwide initiative it says will target areas of the UK with the country’s highest levels of youth joblessness.
According to official figures, as many as 14.3 per cent of people aged 18 to 24 are ‘not in employment, education or training’ (NEET), the highest level in more than a decade, and over 34 per cent of 16- to 17-year-olds who have left education are not in any form of work.
The government has launched a formal review examining the issue, with experts pointing to the UK’s wider jobs slowdown, the UK’s spluttering economy and companies’ adoption of artificial intelligence as the core drivers of the bleak employment picture for young staff.
But ministers have also faced a barrage of criticism for introducing a slew of measures that make it considerably more expensive to hire young people. As part of her maiden Budget, the Chancellor raised £25bn by lowering the threshold of the UK’s main payroll tax, in a move that industry chiefs have warned has disproportionately affected industries like hospitality and retail that hire an outsized number of young workers.
The Treasury has also confirmed above-inflation jumps to the national living wage at two consecutive fiscal events, and is currently engaged in a push to bring minimum pay for young people to parity with workers of any age. It is now exploring whether to delay the drive, according to reports.
McDonald’s bucks wider jobs slowdown
In a recent interview, Bank of England rate-setter Catherine Mann said it was “very unfortunate” that the sharp rise in minimum pay for young workers had “been manifested in unemployment for that [young] category of workers”. Meanwhile Wetherspoons founder Tim Martin said the measure was lowering living standards across Britain, because of its knock-on effects for employment and vacancies.
McDonald’s, which with 170,000 UK-based staff is one of the country’s largest private sector employers, said its five-day work placement will give young interns “hands-on experience” in its restaurants, carrying out inventory checks and operating its drive-thru kiosks.
The Big Mac maker’s push bucks a trend that has seen many large employers scale back their junior vacancies. Job openings for entry-level roles have plunged to a five-year low, with a recent report by the British Chambers of Commerce saying the rollout of AI had led firms to automate lower-level roles in favour of taking on new staff.
Alan Milburn, the former government minister responsible for chairing the government’s Young People and Work Review, said: “The scale of youth unemployment and the NEET crisis facing the UK is a national outrage with long-term consequences. Young people want to work, but too often the system shuts them out.
“High-quality work experience delivered at scale can be transformative, and McDonald’s commitment shows the kind of leadership employers need to demonstrate if we’re serious about giving every young person a fair start.”