The Drive to Get Young Neets into the Military
Young people looking for employment should “really seriously take a look at the armed forces”, according to the veterans minister,
Louise Sandher-Jones. With more than 1 million 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment, or training (Neets), everyone that age is aware of how bleak the job market is at present. But not all agree about whether the military is the answer.
Personal Experience with the Military
Alexandra Williams is from rural Lincolnshire and studied law at a university in Manchester. She went in with the intention of becoming a lawyer, but early on was led to believe that would be impossible. “One of my lecturers was like: you’ve got no contacts, you’re not going to get anywhere,” she says. Looking for opportunities, she joined the local University Officer Training Corps, an army reserve unit that exclusively recruits university students.
Criticisms of the Military Recruitment Drive
However, various peace organizations have expressed concern that the military is preying upon young people with fewer and fewer options available to them.
Emma Sangster is a coordinator at
Forces Watch, an organisation that campaigns against militarism in civil society. It is one of 13 peace groups that recently petitioned ministers to rule out conscription, a threat that for the first time in generations seems “very real”.
The Data Behind the Recruitment Drive
The Ministry of Defence
pledged £70m to expand the Cadet Force by 30%; this February it announced it would
place military personnel in jobcentres to recruit for the army, aiming for tens of thousands of new recruits. However,
Jim Wyke from the
Child Rights International Network said the idea that army recruitment – approximately
10,000 under-25s every year – could make a dent to youth Neet figures was “ludicrous”.
The Impact on Youth Unemployment
In fact, he says, in the under-18 category, recruitment to the army is a net generator of Neets, because the drop-out rate is so high – about 30% in 2022-23 – at the
Army Foundation College in Harrogate, where junior soldiers train, compared with
6-15% for under-18s in different types of civilian further education.
The Future of Youth Employment
Will O’Donnell, a final year
SOAS student studying politics and international relations, agrees. In light of how “cooked” his generation is, with
fewer than 10,000 graduate jobs available for close to a million university leavers, he says army recruitment “doesn’t plug the gap at all”. “Seeing our friends in the years above struggle in the job market, there is a real sense of doom and gloom about where our career prospects lie. This is a much bigger problem than simply telling people to join the military”.