Record number of vacancies - a student workforce?

[malumbu]

Hopefully something that we can have an uncontroversial discussion about and avoid Brexit and the PM (I expect Cat is just counting down the number of posts until this happens....)

Just seen on the news about large number of vacancies, particularly in some sectors such as retail and hospitality.

There are probably a million or two students of higher education running up fairly massive debts. Do we not therefore have a workforce readily available?

Before anyone goes on about conscription and fascist states I ran up bugga all debt having a grant and fees paid for, and did a little bar work and briefly worked as a market porter. Most students of my generation worked so why should the current lot do this either. I doubt whether few of the current student generation would get up at 5 to earn minimum wage. I did work every summer but I expect most do nowadays. Probably most relevant was picking vegetables, with a generally settled Romany community.

So what is to encourage more to do part time jobs during their studies - particularly now learning is so much more flexible?

Anyway a pub discussion rather than development of government policy.

[Nigello]

I agree it is good for the pocket and the CV but students may have more studying to do, especially on vocational courses, than some of us used to have. Not only the students to point this out to - retired or semi-retired with time and bags of life and work experience could also benefit and may well be better at memorising those tricky three-item orders than some waitrons a few decades younger....!

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

malumbu Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I doubt whether few of

> the current student generation would get up at 5

> to earn minimum wage.

I doubt whether many of any generation are willing to get up at 5am. A lot of the older generations still in work won't show up before 9am for far more than minimum wage. Lazy white collar sods.

[malumbu]

There will be an issue of comparing apples with pears in terms of generations of students. Late night clubbing, late night boozing, cheap booze and on line gaming weren't around when I was a student and hence we were less nocturnal and could even get up for a 9am lecture from time to time.

Having said that we had late night Monopoly sessions (had to take it home at Xmas as it caused so much friction) and an awful lot of our grant went on relatively cheap booze at the Student Union.

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

I'm ancient and there was plenty of late night boozing and clubbing when I was a student. Maybe it matters more where you went than when you went?

Anyway, the younger generation booze less and shag less and do drugs less than any previous generation. They also have worse mental health, are in greater debt, and have worse chances of ever owning a house or having a permanent job.

The stereotype of students being a bunch of workshy dissolute deadbeats has never been less true. (It was definitely true in my case though).

[Angelina]

Why pick on students to fill the gaps?

There are many unemployed. Perhaps there is a disconnect in communication of the vacancies.

As for students, my daughter works part time (doesn?t earn much per hour) and studies as do all of her friends.

[malumbu]

Happy for you to start a separate thread. I was just interested in whether students may/could earn some money and help fill some of the current vacancies. It's a pub discussion.

DKH - the clubs shut earlier in them days, I hated the music, having to dress up (no trainers here mate), the cost of drinks and not being able to have a conversation with those I was trying to dance with. Although I never went to Studio 54 and probably only appreciated the genre decades later.

Occasionally they would have student nights but I look back and the rock/pop of my era was dreadful. Appreciated clubs far more when I lived in Liverpool, Cassas or the Razz anyone?

[alex_b]

A quick google suggests that two thirds of students had a part time job last year, down from 74% pre-pandemic (presumably because of the drop in hospitality jobs last year). Source https://www.savethestudent.org/money/surveys/student-money-survey-2021-results.html

Also research shows that drinking in the young has dropped sharply over the last twenty years (e.g. https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/10/young-people-drinking-alcohol-study-england).

So other than a bunch of outdated ?boozy, layabout students? stereotypes, why do you think there is a massive untapped workforce to fill the current labour shortages?

[Pugwash]

Our 17 year old grandson lives in Orpington and has tried for several months to get a few hours of work without joy. He is at College 3 days a week but has to do 2 half days online learning during set times. He would like to earn a few pounds to save his single parent Mum having to fork out for him. He enjoys cooking and would not mind doing catering work.