In any other time in recent history, unemployment levels of 3.6%, the lowest for almost 40 years and wage rises approaching 6% would be inflationary, but with inflation remaining above 10% then it is a challenging outlook. In recent weeks I have been to Brighton, Cornwall, The Lake District and Rye in Sussex, it is the same picture there as in Cambridge, almost all business in retail, hospitality and leisure are struggling to hire.
Hence, they are often closed for lunch or not serving dinner every day or shops are not open late or on Sundays. Much has been written about the myriad of reasons for this and it is complicated. One of the solutions is to encourage more school leavers to go straight into the workplace and not go on to study for a degree. As we know only 1 in 4 student loans are paid off and students taking a loan from 2023 will have 40 years of debt to manage.
Taking a job straight from school either through an apprenticeship or training scheme can be very rewarding and quite quickly at a young age may find yourself not only earning well above the minimum wage, because the labour market is tight, but also being given a lot of responsibility and in many cases the chance to undertake further study, yes even a degree whilst working.
To support this Cambridge BID are working with Cambridge Independent and hosting a job fair on October 4th, at the United Reform Church on Downing Street, we have over 25 employers attending including John Lewis, The City Council, ARU, Fitzbillies, Scudamore’s Punting, Costello Medical a number of colleges and bars, restaurants and retailers. The event is completely free to all job seekers and there will be hundreds of jobs on offer in these businesses. There will also be support for CV writing and the opportunity to learn about a new digital learning app about to be launched for the first time in Cambridge. Click here for more information.
