Youth unemployment is climbing again, and young people aged 16–24 are once more bearing the brunt. According to the Office for National Statistics, young workers consistently face unemployment rates far higher than the national average. That gap widens whenever the economy slows.
Yet the national conversation remains stuck in shallow territory, the economy is blamed in abstract terms. What is rarely confronted honestly is how the structure of low-paid work, combined with perverse incentives, is squeezing young working-age adults out of opportunity.
A Labour Market Built for Supplementary Income
Whilst it would be easy for myself as a nationalist to turn this article into a rant about immigrant workers and D.E.I. hires I won’t as there are other issues to consider.
Large sections of the economy now revolve around low wages, limited hours and minimal progression. Retail, hospitality and service roles are frequently advertised at rates that do not sustain independent living, let alone support a family.
In practice, many of these roles appear better suited to those who do not depend on them as a primary income.
I have seen this firsthand.
Since I quit as a butcher in December 2022 I worked for an agency in 2023 then held two positions in the same company over 2024/2025
At one company I worked for, a significant portion of the workforce was semi-retired. During union discussions, several older employees openly urged the representative not to negotiate a pay rise because it could affect their pension arrangements. For them, higher wages were not necessarily beneficial. The job was supplementary.
At another employer, management all but admitted they deliberately targeted older applicants, people looking for “a bit of pocket money” or merely “something to do”.
From a business perspective, it made sense. These workers were reliable, flexible, and less likely to push for higher wages or long-term progression.
But what does that mean for a 23-year-old trying to build a career?
When entry-level jobs are structured around the assumption that wages are secondary income, they become financially unviable for those who need them most.
Housing and Cost Pressures
Housing compounds the imbalance. Some migrant workers are able to significantly reduce living costs by sharing accommodation, including Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs), where rent is split between several occupants. Lower overheads can make modest wages workable.
But a young adult trying to rent independently, or support a partner and child, cannot compress costs in the same way. Rent, childcare, transport and bills are fixed realities.
The economics of low-paid work therefore favour those with pensions, savings, shared housing or supplementary income, not those attempting to establish financial independence.
Welfare and the Incentive Problem
Then there is the welfare system.
When benefits such as housing support or Universal Credit taper sharply as earnings rise, individuals can face steep effective tax rates. After accounting for childcare and travel, a move into low-paid full-time work can leave someone only marginally better off, if better off at all.
People respond rationally to incentives. If the reward for work is minimal, participation suffers.
This is basic economics.
Blocked Pathways
The pressure does not stop at entry-level work. I have also worked alongside retired professionals who re-entered employment and, intentionally or not, became a barrier to younger workers progressing into stable, skilled roles. Does a retired firefighter really need a £3000 a month net job?Their experience was valuable, but their continued presence delayed generational turnover and opportunity.
In isolation, none of these dynamics is catastrophic. Together, they form a pattern: a labour market increasingly shaped around those who can afford to work cheaply.
The Real Question
Immigration is not the sole cause of youth unemployment, Retirees returning to work are not villains. Employers are responding to available labour.
But we should ask a more uncomfortable question: why does full-time work at the bottom, and increasingly the middle, of the labour market no longer reliably provide independence?
A healthy economy produces jobs that act as stepping stones, roles that pay enough to live on, offer progression and clearly reward effort.
Instead, we have built a system that:
- Rewards supplementary earners
- Tolerates wages below independent living costs
- Blunts incentives through steep benefit withdrawal
- And leaves young workers competing in a market tilted against them
If we are serious about tackling youth unemployment, we must stop treating it as a cultural or generational failing and recognise it as a structural economic problem. A labour market built around low wages and supplementary earners, the D.E.I mine field, combined with high housing costs and poorly aligned welfare incentives, cannot reliably deliver independence for young adults trying to build stable lives.
The Homeland Party will deliver a system that will prioritise them instead of leaving them behind.
