Full Report

Material Realities - Making A Living

5.1 Education, training and jobs

Most of the 47 young people were going through some form of education or training and had a job in 2004 (see Table 1 and Table 2). Of the 22 young people still at school, nineteen planned to go to university and two more had left school, but were on gap years and preparing to go to university the following year. Ambitions with regard to potential degree programmes were wide ranging. Some were planning to study subjects that had been favourites at school, such as history and geography, whilst others had their sights on a particular career and were planning to read subjects such as physiotherapy, media studies and veterinary science. The three who were not planning to go to university were unsure about their future plans, although one was looking at apprenticeship options and another was considering a career as a game keeper. Of the 22 young people at school, seventeen had a job in 2004. They worked part-time in pubs, restaurants and shops and on farms. The sort of work they did ranged from washing up to making and selling cornish pasties and wages commonly ranged from £3.50-4.00 per hour. Three young people simultaneously had more than one part-time job.

Fourteen young people had left school and were in some form of vocational training whilst simultaneously working. Of these, six were learning and/or training to be farmers (three of whom were simultaneously pursuing formal qualifications in agriculture at the University of Central Lancashire), two were training to be agricultural engineers, one was an apprentice electrician, another an apprentice auctioneer, one working and training to be a builder, another training to be a nanny whilst working in childcare, one working and training with a bank, and one working and training to be an accounts clerk.

Of the remaining young people, four had recently finished degree programmes in Higher/Further Education and were living with their parents whilst they applied for jobs and placements. A further two had (temporarily) not completed their degree programmes and were working whilst they considered their options and potential career choices. Three were fully trained, but only two were working in the fields in which they had trained, one as a primary school teacher, the other as a nanny. The other young person had trained to be a veterinary nurse but had qualified during the Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak of 2001 when there were no jobs in her field available. Consequently she had found alternative employment working in administration.

Although the overarching picture is one of dynamic and enterprising young people when it comes to education, training and work opportunities, key concerns emerged regarding their training and employment. The following sections deal with these.

5. 2. Labour markets and industrial restructuring

Rural Cumbria has experienced an overall employment decline between 1998-2002 (Countryside Agency, 2003). This is a concern given that there have been increases in employment created elsewhere in the North West Region (Countryside Agency, 2003). Some of this employment decline can be explained by waning key sectors in districts such as Allerdale where lost jobs have not been adequately replaced by new work opportunities (Countryside Agency, 2003). There is also concern regarding the growing number of 25-34 year olds in remote rural areas of the North West who are economically inactive. In 1999 14% of 25-34 year olds were economically inactive rising to 19% in 2001. Younger age groups are not faring any better. In 2004 33% of JSA claimants in Allerdale were in the 18-24 age group. The national percentage of JSA claimants in this age group was 27.7% (Claimant counts rates and proportions (November 2004), www.nomisweb.co.uk). These statistics have prompted concerns about the employment and training opportunities that exist in rural areas of the North West (Countryside Agency Report, 2003).

For young people in the Northern Fells, plunging agricultural incomes since 1995 have changed the nature, and, in many cases, the viability of farming over the last ten years. Agriculture was an industry traditionally important to the Northern Fells and this is reflected in the number of young people training to be farmers and to support the industry as veterinary nurses and agricultural mechanics for example. Declines in farm incomes and changes to the CAP mean that the industry has an uncertain future in the Northern Fells. This was what some of the young people training and working in agriculture had to say about the future of the industry:

What about the farmers amongst you, is farming something that you’ve always wanted to do?

I got it out of my own farming roots. They’re not having a good time farming. No encouragement at the moment to do it.

You couldn’t farm if you didn’t have like a farm or anything. You couldn’t just set up a farm just like that. You couldn’t afford to.

But is this something you really wanted to do?

Just carry on.

(A little later)

Everything’s changing at the moment because there’s a lot more regulations and changing all the schemes at the moment. Single Farm Payment, no-one really knows what’s going on so no-one’s kind of pushing themselves really at the minute.

A lot more paper work as well

A lot more?

Paperwork. So it makes it harder to farm because you're not allowed to move stock on and off your farm within certain days. It's got to be like six clear days.

In addition to the six young people working in agriculture, others had considered it as a career option but had been put off it:

B: (My Dad) persuaded me not to go into farming

Has he?

B: Yeah because there's no money he says (Bobby, 14-17 age group)

Recent changes and crises in agriculture have had repercussions for other trades that support the industry. Jane had just completed her training to be a veterinary nurse when the Foot and Mouth outbreak of 2001 hit the UK:

'Well, I qualified at the height of foot and mouth and I was doing a veterinary nursing course so nobody was taking on vets or veterinary nurses because they were paying them off. So I just ..well I stayed at (the place where she had a part-time job) and then I saw (an alternative) job in the paper' (Jane 18-24 group)

Some of the changes and job losses in traditional trades have been replaced by growth in other sectors. Whilst in Allerdale public administration has been the strongest growth sector for the district, in Eden it is the distribution, hotels and catering sector (Countryside Agency, 2003). For young people in the Northern Fells, the number of service sector jobs available as a result of a growth in tourism was significant. Businesses like the tea shops in Hesket Newmarket and Caldbeck, visitor attractions such as Upfront Gallery and High Head Sculpture Park, and pubs restaurants and accommodation providers in the Northern Fells have set up and expanded to meet a growth in the number of visitors and tourists to the area.

Demand for tourist oriented businesses is seasonal, however, requiring more workers in the busy summer months than at other times of the year. Although the wholesale, retail, hotel and catering sector account for 28% of all jobs in Cumbria, just over half of these are part-time (Bennett et al, 2002). Whilst casual and part-time jobs were ideal for students looking for holiday jobs and part-time hours, they were not suitable for those looking for full-time work and attempting to develop careers in the Northern Fells. Helen, who has recently completed a degree at university, said:

‘I think I've been back now 3-4 months and I'm still working part-time as a waitress. I haven't found any other jobs really so, yeah, I'll have to move away and find a job. It's a shame but it has to be done’. (Helen, 18-24 age group)

Jobs for graduates were felt to be limited in the Northern Fells. An individual who had recently finished a BSc degree and looking for a graduate scheme in the scientific industry said:

I want to pursue something scientific, but there’s nothing round here for that at all. I mean Shell have outfits out here. GlaxoSmithKline are in Sellafield. Yeah, I mean there’s not a lot, I mean they have graduate schemes but I mean they’re low based and like the Shell one is probably the biggest one round here and that’s international so there’s not a lot of chance of getting on that. But yeah, I mean there’s loads of ….like I’ve been looking at the last couple of months I’ve used a lot of internet based recruitment agencies, like Reed. Just whatever tends to come up on Google I tend to like sign on and give them my email address and just sit and hope.

So it’s very much off you own back and your own initiative that you’re

Yeah, I mean I’m sure there’s other things you can do but I have not been doing. I’ve not signed on or anything down at the Job Centre. Er, I use the website of the Job Centre of course, em, but it just totally depends on what you want to do. I don’t know what area you can get a lot of jobs up here, farming yeah, but not…em, but basically as far as scientific industry goes there’s not a lot up here. (Jeff, 18-24 age group)

Even when there were job opportunities for graduates in the Northern Fells, competition for those workplaces could be immense. Despite a national shortage of teachers, this was a graduate’s experience of getting a job at a primary school in the Northern Fells:

It was very competitive. The first job that I got they’d been 72 people that had applied for it. One of the interviews that I went to that I didn’t get they’d been 102, and the one I got last year at (local school) they’d been 125 applications….Really competitive (Joby, 18-24 age group)

5.3. Finding work and training opportunities

Young people in this research were incredibly resourceful when it came to finding work and training opportunities using local newspapers, schools/Connexions, colleges, universities, Job Centres, the internet, and, most importantly, networks of friends and family.

Those at school, college or university had more formal systems of help. Young people at school talked about Connexions, which offers a range of services to 13-19 year olds, including careers advice and personal development activities. Connexions works through schools and its centres and is an initial contact point for young people through which other specialised services can be reached. Young people in this research discussed how Connexions had figured in their lives. For one person it was available as a potential source of support to help with problems at home, for most others it was there for careers advice and to help with the organisation of work experience. There was a mixture of responses regarding the sort of support offered by Connexions and Schools. A group of young women in the 14-17 age group said:

I’ve never been to the connexions lady or man. I mean we had a lesson last year for a year called ‘Careers’ and that was just a waste of time.

Why was it a waste of time?

We just

Did nothing

Actually, we went on work experience. That was beneficial. That was good, I enjoyed that.

Another young person (in the 14-17 age group) said:

You do more in year eleven than year ten. …. We’ve been in the computer rooms looking up possible universities and possible courses and stuff and then you get even more in sixth form so it is good

And how’s that organised, is it through a particular teacher, or …?

Em, we get careers lessons and my teacher’s Mrs. X so she’s always really good. She has like useful information…..She like organises all the university things and she’s pretty good.

Yeah, and they really encourage you to go to university.

Those young people planning to go into Higher Education had more positive experiences of support and advice available through schools with regard to potential careers and university courses. In fact, young people often felt that support was there as long as you were planning to go to university and felt pressured by schools to go into Higher Education. One young woman trying to find a job having recently left university said:

I think the height of the advice I got from school was ‘Go to university. It’ll work out after you’ve finished’ (Helen, 18-24 age group)

Those not planning to go into Higher Education felt they had much less support and advice at school on potential careers and training in comparison to those considering university courses. They felt marginalised and excluded from systems of support. For this reason informal systems of support provided by networks of friends and family were more useful. The following men talked about how they got their apprenticeships and jobs through local contacts and networks:

How did you get into your various jobs, how did you start to get into those particular jobs?

I got offered my job in the co-op at Dalston. I was queuing up one day and my boss tapped me on the back and asked me if I wanted to do an apprenticeship

Really?

Aye

And he knew you already?

Aye, he knew me anyhow so, that was it. Never looked back

And how did you get your training job at the auctioneers then?

Well I used to go to the auction a lot with my dad, and I knew a lot of the people there and er, I did work experience there as well so when they offered it I already had experience really.

Similarly, a woman working in childcare said:

I wanted to go on a two year course but I didn't get the exam results I wanted so I went to college for a year and then when I came out of there I got offered a job which was quite good and then word of mouth's just got me where I am now (Emma, 18-24 age group)

The downside of relying on informal networks of friends and family to find training and job opportunities was that not knowing the right people in the best place led to exclusion and inability to find appropriate training and desired jobs:

Apprenticeships can be a problem an’ all, getting an apprenticeship round here….I asked, em, a local welder if he’d take us on as an apprentice but he says he hasn’t got the time and it’s just so much hassle there. He can’t just take someone on, train them up (Bob, 14-17 year group)

5.4. Employers’ views of young people in the Northern Fells

Overall, business owners’ experiences of employing young people were positive. They considered the work ethic of young people in the Northern Fells to be particularly good (especially when they had experiences of running businesses elsewhere). A pub owner said:

I find that young people round here have a very strong work ethic. They’re reliable, they’re hard workers because generally they come from farming stock so they’re used to work. They’re honest. Very, very honest (Owner of hospitality business, Northern Fells).

They were also perceived as having fresh ideas and being innovative and vital to a business:

I have changed an older person for a young person because the young person, Martin, was still at college when we employed him. He has more ideas…..(Young people) give a vitality to a business. New ideas. Excellent (Owner of hospitality business, Northern Fells)

Similarly the owner of a personal services sector business liked the ‘young spirits, young ideas, young thoughts’ that employing a young person brought to her business.

Recruiting individuals through networks of friends, family and existing employees dodged potential problems regarding the employment of young people:

Well, in the tea room I have…. Rachel, my niece, she’s seventeen and I have my son’s girlfriend, or had, she’s just left. She’s got a full-time job……The two girls I’ve had have been very reliable but then they are tied. They’ve got a family tie which might make a difference (Owner of recreation/culture business, Northern Fells)

we haven’t had to advertise for any workshop staff for a long time…..we permanently have a notice up in the canteen saying if there’s anybody that wants to come and work tell them to send their CV in and then when a position comes up we’ll contact them (Owner of a manufacturing business, Northern Fells)

Some problems relating to the employment of young people were difficult to avoid. Young people were perceived to need greater supervision and more direction than other employees. The owner of a recreation/culture business felt that she was unable to get on with other aspects of her business, such as paperwork and meetings, and had to be fully focussed on the shop floor and young people when they were at work:

I couldn’t afford to have them (young ones) just standing about whereas the ladies (older ones), if it is quiet, they get on and do a batch of baking and make scones and put cakes in the freezer and things like that (Owner of recreation/culture business, Northern Fells)

The schedules of young people were also sometimes difficult for employers to negotiate. Most business owners happily slotted their needs around the education and training activities of young people, recognising the benefits of these to both the individuals they employed and their enterprise. Occasionally, however, young people were perceived to put too many demands upon businesses that employers were unable to accommodate, especially when it came to time off for other activities, including holidays. A business owner in the hospitality sector had to lay off young people when:

(they) didn’t fit into my busy times. When they want to go on holiday, which are bank holidays, I’m busy (Owner of hospitality business, Northern Fells).

The final key difficulty experienced by business owners when it came to the employment of young people was the issue of transport. This was especially the case for isolated enterprises situated away from villages. A recreation/culture business owner said: