Britain's new Prime Minister Andy Burnham on Tuesday outlined plans to align technical education and training for young people with local employment needs, seeking to tackle rising youth unemployment by preparing people for an AI-driven future. Britain has faced a worsening youth employment crisis since the COVID-19 pandemic, with more than a million 16-to-24-year-olds not in education, employment or training.
For 18-to-24-year-olds, the percentage of so-called NEETs is 15.8%, more than triple that in the Netherlands, a country ministers have increasingly cited as a model for reform. Burnham's government, seeking to produce results quickly after a decade of political instability and stagnant living standards, says advances in artificial intelligence are changing the types of jobs available, increasing demand for new technical skills and giving "new life" to traditional trades.
