Work & Employment

• STATISTICS:

  • Young people are 3x more likely than the rest of the population to be unemployed
  • The ONS (2025) estimates 1 in 8 are a part of NEETs (not in employment education or training)
  • Currently over 900,000 are not in employment, education or training
  • An estimated 2.3% of people in the UK are on zero-hour contracts. The groups most likely to be on these contracts are women under 25 and over 65.
• Phillipson - The Marxist term “reserve army of labour” can be used to explain why young and elderly are disadvantaged in the workplace
• Barron & Norris - Weberians use the “dual labour market” to explain why the young and elderly are disadvantaged in the workplace
• What two studies give a reason for unemployment of particular age groups?

  • Barron & Norris - dual labour market
  • Phillipson - reserve army of labour (young + old are cheaper to hire during economic highs + easy to fire)
• A MORI poll in 2002 found that 36% of workers from all age groups had experienced ageism at work. This mostly affects the older workers because the young are cheaper to employ.
• Johnson - argues that institutional ageism still exists in workplaces today. The older workers face a compulsory retirement age. However, anti-discrimination laws are now challenging this.