Responding to Office for National Statistics data on the state of the UK labour market Young Women’s Trust Chief Executive Sophie Walker said:
“There are still half a million young women out of work, including 377,000 who are written off as ‘economically inactive’.
“Often the young women we call ‘inactive’ are working for free, looking after children and other family members – and propping up society.
“They tell us they want paid work, so they can support themselves financially.
“But discrimination that shuts young women out of decent, flexible jobs, combined with failing social care and childcare systems, is forcing hundreds of thousands of young women into poverty. Yet they are the talent this Government needs to address the skills and productivity gap. The Government must stop ignoring these young women and start addressing the barriers to young women’s economic justice.”
