More than four million young people aged 16 to 24 in the US are what is known as opportunity youth, disconnected from both school and work. They’re not idle by choice. They’re navigating a labor market that has thinned the first rung of the career ladder so that too many young people, regardless of motivation, can’t find a footing. The US has promising programs to address this. What it doesn’t have is a system.
A landmark new study from Britain helps explain why that distinction matters and what’s required to close the gap. Published by the Education and Employers charity, it’s one of the most comprehensive examinations of youth employment ever conducted. Its headline is that young people who experienced the highest levels of structured work experience before age 16 had 80 percent lower odds of becoming NEET (not in education, employment, or training) than those with the least exposure to work.
After more than two decades of building the evidence base, the conclusion is now hard to contest. Structured work experience transforms the trajectory of young lives. The question for the US is whether it will build what that conclusion demands.
The British study’s most important finding is about who and how young people get work experience. Eighty-one percent of them find their placements through themselves or their families. Nearly eight in ten school staff say family connections are the primary reason some students benefit more than others. So, the access to structured work experience is rationed by social capital, or the relationships and networks they have.
