Youth Unemployment Crisis in the North West: A Call for Change

More than 100,000 young people across the North West are currently out of work, as new analysis highlights a growing disconnect between education and employment across the region – despite major investment in sectors such as digital, technology and advanced manufacturing.

According to digital skills training experts The Coders Guild, youth unemployment is rising nationwide – but the impact is being felt particularly strongly across parts of the North West, where economic inequality and skills gaps continue to affect opportunities for young people.

Across the UK, youth unemployment has reached 732,000 (16%), rising by 99,000 in just one year. If current trends continue, this is projected to exceed 830,000 by 2028. At the same time, nearly 957,000 young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET) – a figure expected to surpass 1.05 million within two years.

Across the North West – including major cities such as Manchester and Liverpool – more than 100,000 young people are estimated to be unemployed, with youth claimant rates in some boroughs sitting above the national average.

In parts of Greater Manchester, youth unemployment remains persistently high, particularly in communities facing long-term deprivation and lower access to higher-paid opportunities. While the region has seen growth in digital and professional industries, many young people continue to struggle to access stable entry-level roles.

Compared with Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West faces a similar challenge – both regions broadly track the national average for overall unemployment, but young people remain disproportionately affected by insecure work, limited progression pathways and growing competition for jobs.

The analysis also highlights a wider structural issue. Over 36% of UK graduates are currently underemployed, working in roles that do not require their qualifications. With around 60% of learners progressing into higher education, this suggests large numbers of young people – including those across Manchester and the wider North West – are entering pathways that may not lead to meaningful employment.

At the same time, students in England are graduating with an average debt of £53,000, raising further concerns about long-term financial outcomes in regions where wage growth has lagged behind parts of the South East.

The report also points to missed opportunities within the skills system. More than £3.3 billion in unused Apprenticeship Levy funding was returned to the Treasury between 2019 and 2022, while employer investment in training has fallen 18.5% in real terms since 2011.

Crispin Read said:

“We already have part of the solution sitting unused. Billions in unspent Apprenticeship Levy funding could be unlocking real skills and opportunity, yet we continue to teach people more and more about less and less, and then verify it worked by testing them in ways that only suit a fraction of the population. That’s not education. That’s selection.”

Read argues that the issue is not a failure of young people, but of a system built around outdated assumptions – one that no longer reflects how people build careers in modern regional economies.

“The entire machine is built to prove that teaching happened, not that learning was effective, or that a career was built. We’re measuring the wrong things.

“For decades, young people across places like Manchester and the wider North West have been encouraged down a linear path: work hard in school, attend university, and secure a stable career. However, current data shows that promise is increasingly out of reach.”

While more than half of A-level students still plan to attend university, alternative pathways are growing. Apprenticeships now attract around 25% of A-level students, up from 15% in recent years, with over 353,500 starts annually in England. However, these routes remain underutilised relative to traditional academic options.

Read added:
“Social mobility doesn’t begin in lecture halls – it begins in local businesses across the North West, where real-world skills, mentorship and meaningful work intersect. These environments create career opportunities for young people who may otherwise be overlooked by traditional education routes.”

The Coders Guild emphasises that responsibility does not lie with educators, but with the structure they operate within. The current model continues to favour a relatively small proportion of learners who thrive in exam-based environments, while others are pushed into unsuitable or low-value pathways.

The result is a widening disconnect between education and employment – one that risks leaving over a million young people nationwide without clear direction, while employers across the North West continue to report skills shortages, particularly in digital and technical roles.

The organisation is calling for a fundamental rethink of how success is defined in education, including:

• Greater emphasis on practical, career-aligned skills
• Broader recognition of alternative pathways such as apprenticeships and digital training
• A shift away from exam-centric assessment models
• Stronger links between education providers and regional employers

Without meaningful change, the warning is clear: the North West – like Yorkshire and many other UK regions – risks continuing to produce generations of young people who are qualified on paper, but unprepared for the realities of modern work.