Tackling cost of doing business key to solving youth employment crisis

Britain's youth unemployment crisis is the symptom of a wider cost of doing business problem, warns the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

28 Aug 2026

Britain's youth unemployment crisis is the symptom of a wider cost of doing business problem, warns the Confederation of British Industry (CBI).

A CBI report shows that growth is needed to move the dial for more than a million young people not in education, employment or training.

The report sets out a practical route to changing business behaviour from cost and caution to investment and opportunity, enabling employers across the country to create more jobs, apprenticeships and work experience opportunities for young people.

The CBI is clear that youth employment sits within a much wider system spanning health, welfare, education and other areas of government policy.

Rain Newton-Smith, Chief Executive at the CBI said: 'The Prime Minister has made solving the youth employment crisis one of the defining challenges of his government, and rightly so. This is not just an economic challenge; it is a social and moral imperative. Young people have a tremendous amount to offer, yet too many are locked out of the labour market and denied the opportunities they deserve.

'The consequences of this tragic waste of potential are deeply personal, but they also go beyond the individual; when young people lose out, so do businesses, government and the wider economy. Without a coherent plan to tackle youth unemployment, we risk weakening the social contract that binds firms, workers and communities together. The stakes are high, and we cannot afford to fail.'