Money Box Live: Starting Out

Money Box

BBC

Business

4.2 • 825 Ratings

🗓️ 18 March 2026

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How hard is it for young people to find a job and once they do how can they make it pay?

Some 16.1% of people aged 16 to 24 are not able to find work according to the latest government figures, the highest level for 10 years. Without a job, being able buying a home, paying into a pension or just pay the bills can seem impossible.

So what's the best way to go? Graduate job, apprenticeship or working your way up from an entry level job and what support is there for those struggling whilst on the hunt?

The Department for Work and Pensions told Money Box Live, "We’re determined to tackle youth unemployment, which is why we’re investing £1.5 billion through our Youth Guarantee in work experience, apprenticeships and subsidised jobs."

Joining Paul Lewis today is Barry Fletcher, Chief Executive of the Youth Futures Foundation, a charity focused on reducing youth unemployment. And Lizzie Crowley a skills advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel Development.

Presenter: Paul Lewis Producers: James Graham and Sarah Rogers Editor: Robert Cave Senior Editor: Justin Bones

(This episode was first broadcast on Wednesday the 18th of February 2026)

Picture credit BAE Systems

Transcript

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0:00.0	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:07.2	Savings, credit cards, car finance, reclaiming, insurance, investing, power of attorney, decision,
0:12.2	indecision, analysis, paralysis.
0:15.4	Don't panic.
0:16.4	The Martin Lewis podcast is twice weekly, helping you navigate our complex consumer world. I'll walk you through a big money saving topic step by step. Then in question time, you set the agenda and ask whatever's on your mind. Would you rather be locked in an empty shopping centre with a thousand snakes or just one gorilla? Within reason. The Martin Lewis podcast, listen on BBC Sounds.
0:38.5	Hello, on this Moneybox Live podcast, we ask,
0:42.2	how hard is it for young people to find a job, never mind a good job with prospects?
0:47.3	Figures published recently showed that the rate of joblessness among under 25s was at a 10-year-high.
0:53.2	One in six, that's almost a million, 16 to 24-year-olds,
0:57.6	are now not in education, employment or training, the so-called N-E-E-T's or NEETs, as Libby was recently.
1:06.3	They had me do a 40-question personality test. You'd then just wait to hear back if you have an interview.
1:14.0	Every single job I applied for, I didn't even get to the interview stage. It's really depressing,
1:18.2	to be honest. And with us today is Barry Fletcher. He's chief executive of the Youth Futures Foundation.
1:24.5	That's a charity focused on reducing youth unemployment. Barry Fletcher,
1:29.0	there were new jobs figures out just yesterday, as I said, which showed unemployment at the
1:33.7	highest rate since COVID, among 16 to 24-year-olds, it had gone up 37,000 just in the last
1:40.3	three months of last year. Why are so many people who want a job unable to get one?
1:46.6	Thank you, Paul. Yeah, those figures are really concerning. I think there are three big issues
1:51.7	that are facing young people. So we have seen over the last decade arise in some of the challenges
1:56.6	young people are facing. So mental health issues have grown. The number of young people with neurodiverse conditions have grown. And we do see that less young people are facing. So mental health issues have grown. The number of young people with
2:01.5	neurodiverse conditions have grown. And we do see that less young people are in work with those
2:05.9	conditions than otherwise. At the same time, we've seen a decline in vacancies. So over the last
	...

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