The Missing First Rung: How Britain Lost Entry-Level Jobs — And How Genuine Futures Is Helping Bring Them Back
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For decades, getting your first job was a rite of passage.
It might not have been glamorous.
It might have involved washing cars, cleaning windows, helping on a building site, working in a local shop, delivering newspapers, or learning the ropes from an experienced employer.
But it was a start.
It was the first rung of the ladder.
It was where confidence was built, skills were learned, and futures began.
Today, that first rung is disappearing.
According to Alan Milburn, author of the government’s latest report into young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), the decline in entry-level jobs is a “long-term structural problem” that began more than a decade ago. https://youtu.be/_
His warning is stark.
More than one million young people aged 16–24 are currently not in education, employment or training — the highest level in 12 years.
Milburn has described the situation as:
“A chronic problem that’s getting worse, not better.”
He has also warned:
“There currently isn’t a plan to deal with it.”
This isn’t simply a labour market issue.
It’s a crisis of opportunity.
What Happened to Entry-Level Jobs?
For generations, entry-level jobs acted as a bridge between education and adulthood.
Young people learned:
- Responsibility
- Teamwork
- Communication
- Customer service
- Timekeeping
- Problem-solving
- Self-belief
Most importantly, they learned that they were capable.
Over time, however, economic pressures, changing business models, automation, increasing qualification requirements, and the reduction of genuine work experience opportunities have steadily removed many of those first-step opportunities.
Young people are repeatedly told:
“You need experience to get a job.”
But how do you gain experience if nobody gives you the opportunity?
This catch-22 is leaving thousands of young people stuck.
The Human Cost
Behind every statistic is a person.
A young person who wants to work.
A young person who wants to contribute.
A young person who wants a future.
Yet many find themselves caught between systems that are often better at responding to crisis than preventing it.
School exclusions.
Unmet SEND needs.
Youth homelessness.
Poor mental health.
Lack of work experience.
Limited employer engagement.
The longer a young person remains disconnected, the harder it becomes to reconnect.
Confidence fades.
Belief disappears.
Potential goes unrealised.
We Need to Stop Reacting and Start Preventing
The Prime Minister recently described the latest NEET report as “sobering” and stated:
“We cannot afford, and we will not allow, a lost generation.”
He’s right.
But preventing a lost generation requires more than reports.
It requires action.
For too long, we have invested heavily in managing the consequences of failure while underinvesting in prevention.
We wait until young people are unemployed.
We wait until they are in crisis.
We wait until they enter temporary accommodation.
We wait until they enter the justice system.
Then we react.
Imagine what could happen if we invested earlier.
How Genuine Futures Is Bringing Back the First Rung
At Genuine Futures, we believe every young person deserves the opportunity to gain real-world experience, develop skills, and build confidence.
That is why we have created practical, community-based pathways that provide genuine opportunities rather than endless preparation for opportunities.
Through initiatives such as:
Boss Your Future
Our employability and enterprise programme helping young people build confidence, develop transferable skills, and explore future careers.
We Shine Any Car
A youth-led car wash and vehicle valeting enterprise providing hands-on experience in customer service, teamwork, business operations, marketing, and entrepreneurship.
Clean Futures
A youth-led external cleaning enterprise creating practical work opportunities while delivering positive environmental and community impact.
These are not simulations.
These are real opportunities.
Real responsibility.
Real customers.
Real learning.
Real futures.
Sam Smith: Rebuilding the Ladder
Sam Smith, Co-Director and Founder of Genuine Futures, has spent more than 26 years supporting young people through enterprise and practical work opportunities.
“For decades, the first rung of the ladder has been disappearing. Young people are told they need experience to get a job, but nobody is giving them the opportunity to gain that experience in the first place.
This is something I have seen throughout my entire career.
During my time in Blackpool, I supported hundreds of young people through practical enterprises including car cleaning, window cleaning, external cleaning, and community-based projects. What was incredible to see was how many of those young people went on to secure employment, build careers, and even start businesses of their own.
The opportunity changed everything.
They didn’t need saving.
They needed a chance.
As someone who entered the care system as a child and later spent years in the criminal justice system, I know what happens when young people lose hope and stop believing in their future.
Through Genuine Futures, Boss Your Future, We Shine Any Car, Clean Futures, and the Restore Young Futures campaign, we are building a scalable model that combines employability, enterprise, mentoring, community action, and real-world experience.
We are proving that when young people are trusted, supported, and given meaningful opportunities, they can achieve incredible things.
At Genuine Futures, we’re not waiting for someone else to fix it.
We’re building the first rung of the ladder again.”
Mike Alleyne: Prevention Is Better Than Crisis
Mike Alleyne, Co-Director of Genuine Futures, believes the solution lies in investing earlier.
“The challenge facing young people today isn’t a lack of talent. It’s a lack of opportunity.
We continue to invest significant resources once young people reach crisis point, yet we often struggle to fund the preventative work that stops those crises from happening in the first place.
Through Genuine Futures, we are creating pathways that connect young people to employers, enterprise, training, mentoring, and community support.
Every young person deserves someone who believes in them and a pathway that allows them to discover what they are capable of achieving.
Prevention isn’t just better for young people. It’s better for communities, employers, public services, and society as a whole.”
Genuine Futures Wants a Seat at the Table
The publication of Alan Milburn’s report is an important moment.
At Genuine Futures, we have not stood on the sidelines.
Over the past year, we have met with local decision-makers, engaged with senior leaders across education and children’s services, and written directly to our local MP, Kirith Entwistle, highlighting the growing challenges facing young people and sharing the practical solutions we are developing.
We are grateful for that engagement.
But the scale of this challenge requires local and national action.
Too often, policy is developed about young people without young people being involved.
Too often, grassroots organisations are expected to deliver solutions without being invited to help shape them.
We are not asking to be consulted as an afterthought.
We are asking for a genuine seat at the table.
Why?
Because we see the reality behind the statistics.
We work with the young people behind the headlines.
We hear from parents who are desperate for support.
We receive referrals from schools, professionals, community organisations, and increasingly from young people themselves who are actively searching for opportunity.
We know what is working.
We know what is not.
Most importantly, we are proving that practical, community-led, enterprise-based solutions can create real pathways into employment, confidence, purpose, and hope.
The challenge facing Britain will not be solved by government alone.
It will require collaboration between communities, employers, schools, local authorities, youth organisations, social enterprises, and young people themselves.
That is why we are calling on decision-makers, employers, funders, and government departments to work alongside organisations like Genuine Futures as part of the solution.
Not because we have all the answers.
But because we are already helping to build them.
The Time to Act Is Now
For more than a decade, Britain has been losing the first rung of the ladder.
At Genuine Futures, we are rebuilding it.
Through enterprise, employability, mentoring, community action, and real-world opportunities, we are proving that when young people are given a chance, they can achieve incredible things.
The talent is already there.
The question is whether we are prepared to create the opportunities.
Talent Is Everywhere. Opportunity Is Not.
Together, We Can Restore Young Futures.
To support the Restore Young Futures campaign, partner with Genuine Futures, or learn more about our work:
hello@genuinefutures.co.uk
01204 954200
www.genuinefutures.co.uk