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College graduates out of university and to a uncertain labor market—but the UK defense chief says the government’s defense department is ready to use them with open arms.
While warning the country of the growing potential for conflict with Russia, Sir Richard Knighton stressed that the UK’s defense “cannot be outsourced to the armed forces,” and called on young citizens to step up.
He went as far as urging teenagers and graduates to ditch the corporate careers they might be studying, to join the military and help “meet the demands of the UK and our allies to re-stock and re-arm.”
“Building this capacity in the industry also means we need more people to leave schools and universities to join the industry,” Knighton said recently at an event at the Royal United Services Institute in Westminster.
The military chief even asked parents to actively guide their children into defense careers.
“We need defense and political leaders to explain the importance of industry to the country, and we need schools and parents to encourage children and young adults to take up careers in industry.”
More than a rally call: Government targets Gen Z with $66.7 million initiative
Asking Gen Zers to do a career-180 and enter the arms industry is a tall order—but the UK government is putting its money where its mouth is. The country has launched a new initiative to train teenagers as young as 16 in military technology.
Speaking to a recent report finding that the UK has a “dangerous skills gap” in engineering, Knighton identified a critical need for industry collaboration and new Gen Z professionals.
He recently announced that the UK government will invest £50 million ($66.7 million) in new defense technical excellence colleges (TECs).
This is a deliberate strategy to not only develop in-demand skills within the country, but also ensure that graduates have a better shot at employment—a much-needed opportunity as the country grapples with alarming Gen Z unemployment.
The tough labor market for Gen Z graduates in the UK
Ambitious Gen Z professionals are up against an incredibly weak labor market. Youth unemployment in the UK increased at the highest rate in more than a decade, as the jobless rate for 16 to 24-year-olds rose to 16% in the three months to October. This is the highest youth unemployment rate the country has seen since 2015, with 735,000 of these Gen Zers unemployed.
Even college graduates finding six-figure office jobs are struggling. Approximately 1.2 million applications are submitted for just 17,000 graduate roles in the UK in 2023/2024, according to research from the Institute of Student Employers (ISE). In comparison, 559,959 candidates were interviewed for graduate roles in 2021/2022, with UK employers hiring 19,646 of them. In just a few years, these entry-level opportunities have dwindled by the thousands, while double the amount of talent entered the highly competitive job hunt. Last year marked the highest number of applications per job recorded since ISE began tracking data in 1991.
“There are more graduates now coming out of universities, which means there are more people who need to graduate for the jobs that are out there,” Rob Breare, CEO of the UK independent school system Malvern College International, said that on stage on luck Global Forum conference in October.
With white-collar jobs in short supply, the UK government’s push for more Gen Zers to enter the arms industry would be a welcome move.
The nation’s $66.7 million investment in defense technology specialty schools is just a drop in the bucket. $965 million strategy to get young professionals to work. Last week, the government announced a nearly billion-dollar initiative to create more apprenticeships, and put 50,000 young people to work in critical fields such as AI, engineering, and hospitality.
The country also writes the norm that a cushy office job is the only insecure career. And as the government looks to expand its defense capabilities and job opportunities, Gen Z may find greater success from seeking corporate employment.
This story was originally featured on Fortune.com
