Youth unemployment through the lens of volunteering

Last week’s unemployment figures revealed another depressing rise in the number of young people that are out of work.

With many v-funded projects coming to an end at a time when young people need them most, we thought it was about time that we showcased just a few stories from young people that have been helped into employment through the range of programmes and projects that we have supported. The short report 'Youth unemployment and v' also uses our learning over the last 5 years to come up with a few recommendations for mainstreaming volunteering into solutions for youth unemployment.

The Department for Work and Pensions recently announced that advisers from voluntary organisations will be based in Job Centres to signpost people to volunteering opportunities from April. But there is more that the Government, voluntary sector and agencies supporting young people can do to really make the most of volunteering to meet the needs of young people. Some of the more structured forms of volunteering the v and our partners have delivered are particularly beneficial.

The impact report for the vtalent year programme shows the benefits of longer term full-time volunteering which could do so much to help young people on the new Work Programme to make the move into work. Also the criteria for young people being classified as being ‘active’ in education, employment and training, prevents some agencies form signposting young people to volunteering because the young it won’t help them to hit their targets.

And there is still a lack of definitive evidence on the links between volunteering and employability. Later in the Spring v will publish two research reports with the Institute for Employment Studies and CFE which will help to build that evidence.

Supported volunteering does not always come cheap but the longer term saving is worth the initial investment. The support that young people receive from trained workers and expenses to ensure accessibility are vital to the success of programmes. As one young volunteer said “If it wasn’t for the vtalent year programme I would be homeless and jobless now, so I would like to say thanks to everyone who has helped me to become a better man.”