Pupils should get summer holiday jobs to prepare them for work says Esther McVey DWP secretary

Teenagers should get summer jobs during the holidays to prepare them for the workplace, the Work and Pensions Secretary has said.

Esther McVey said part-time jobs are vital to equip the younger generation with skills that will enable post-Brexit Britain to thrive. 

The percentage of young people working while studying has more than halved since 1997, falling to 18 per cent from 42 per cent.

In a bid to combat this decline, the Government will today launch a drive to get teenagers working in the summer holidays – placing 20,000 posts on its Find a Job website. 

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, Miss McVey warned a ‘cultural shift’ has seen teenagers focus on education and training at the expense of earning extra money and gaining vital work experience.

Miss McVey added that summer and Saturday jobs prepare young people for successful careers in later life, teaching vital ‘soft skills’ such as customer service, problem solving and time management.

She wrote: ‘As we enter this post-Brexit era, I want to make sure that young people are as prepared as ever for the workplace and I want to restore the merits that summer jobs can bring.’

Miss McVey, who will launch the campaign at Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest today, acknowledged that while a summer job may not be ‘a dream job for life’, they are ‘firmly connected to having a successful future’.

Statistics show that as well as providing extra cash, part-time jobs increase the likelihood of teenagers and children finding work later in life.

Two-thirds of employers say experience is important when recruiting, and young people who have had part-time jobs tend to earn 12 to 15 per cent more than those who did not.

The percentage of young people working while studying has more than halved since 1997, falling to 18 per cent from 42 per cent. File image used