There’s a blockage restricting growth in the UK economy, but nobody seems prepared to wield the plunger and get things flowing again. The problem is obvious and no secret but for reasons of money and snobbery all efforts to fix the huge mismatch between employers’ needs and the skills the education is failing to deliver.

We have around a million NEETs that’s people aged between 16 and 24 who are not in work, in education or some other form of training. We also have a building industry that has been tasked with building 1.5 million houses by 2029, a target they can’t possibly hit because the UK is literally hundreds of thousands short of the numbers required to keep up with demand for their services.

Labour Market Mismatch

So, what do we do to sort out this mismatch? How do we balance the labour market and give the economy a boost? Because persisting with an education system that’s sole focus is turning out graduates in such numbers and subjects that there’s no chance they’ll all get the jobs and career they’re hoping for.

Turning the Oil Tanker

Turning around such an oil tanker like the UK education system isn’t ever going to be easy, especially with most teachers having no experience employment options that don’t stem from a university degree. Add family and other social pressures on young people to be successful, a concept that for many rules out considering any manual job. And the fact that universities are actually businesses desperate to get bums on seats, and you’re faced with a gigantean task.

Gerrymandering!

But with graduate jobs increasingly moving towards the endangered list, especially with the arrival on the scene of AI and houses not building themselves there doesn’t seem to be any alternative. Perhaps instead of trying the latest gerrymandering scheme cooked up to sound good on the stump by politicians how about starting with the kids before they get captured by the university myth of a great career?

Careers Class Taught by Experts

One simple move. Add a careers class to the secondary school syllabus. All that’s needed is one class per week, and each week the class is handed over to someone from the real world to showcase their industry, their role within it, and the educational pathways required. It’s not the entire solution but it would make a hell of a difference. Just saying!