With new recruits across the UK economy at their lowest level in five years and vacancies continuing to fall, the data reflects a labour market in which businesses are pulling back from hiring. For print and packaging, where the challenges of an ageing workforce and persistent skills gaps are well-documented, the conditions are now shifting in ways the sector should be actively responding to.

 

Joanna explains: "There is a tendency in our industry to read headline employment figures and move on, but this week's data deserves closer inspection. Youth unemployment at 14.7% means there is a significant pool of young people who are actively looking for a path into work, at exactly the moment when wider competition for that talent has softened. Sectors that get proactive now will grab an advantage that won't be there indefinitely.

 

"What is striking about the new ONS figures is that the softening isn't uniform. Consumer-facing sectors, such as hospitality and retail, are seeing the sharpest contractions. This is precisely where many young people have historically found their first foothold in the jobs market. Those routes are closing, which creates a big opportunity for our industry. We need to get in front of young people at the right moment, with a credible and honest picture of what a career in print and packaging actually looks like.

 

"The IFS data published alongside the ONS figures is the part that should give us real pause for thought. The proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds in payrolled work has fallen from 54.9% to 50.6% in just three years. Economists warn that unemployment early in a career leaves lasting damage, to these aren't people who will simply re-enter the workforce when conditions improve. Some of them won't, without active intervention.

 

"The industry has made genuine progress in recent years, but there’s still a big gap to close. But the conditions right now require us to move from foundation-building to active recruitment of a generation. The answer lies in making this industry visible, relevant, and accessible to young people who currently have no idea it exists, or worse, have the wrong idea about it entirely.

 

“This window won't stay open forever, so there’s a real sense of urgency here. As economic conditions stabilise and other sectors return to full hiring, the competition for that talent will intensify again. Our job right now, as print and packaging evangelists, is to be in that room.”