• More than one million young people are not in employment, education or training, while entry-level roles are declining and changing.
  • The report argues that young people need digital, AI and human skills earlier so they can prosper in a labour market reshaped by AI.
  • Prosper UK sets out a plan covering schools, teacher training, entrepreneurship, apprenticeships, vocational routes, better jobs data and measures that work for NEETs.

As the UK enters the age of Artificial Intelligence, more than one million young people are not in employment, education or training, and entry-level roles are declining and changing. Young people furthest from work risk being among those most affected as routine tasks are automated and reshaped.

The report argues that there is also a major opportunity if the UK gets this right. The UK already ranks third in the world for AI, and wider AI adoption among small and medium sized businesses could add more than £42 billion a year to the economy. However, the report warns that large digital and AI skills gaps mean employers cannot fill roles, and that unless digital skills improve, the UK could lose up to £27.6 billion and 380,000 jobs by 2030.

Drawing on input from leading academics, employers, youth employment organisations, think tanks and AI companies, the paper sets out measures to help young people, including NEETs, prosper in the age of AI. It calls for a coordinated national strategy, delivered within a year, bringing together the AI Taskforce, the Future of Work Minister, the AI Minister, the Employment Minister, Skills England, other key departments, industry and academics.

Recommendations to prepare young people for the age of AI

  • Develop a Skills and Jobs Dashboard that shares information about skills, shortages and forecasts with young people and matches them with jobs in shortage areas, including digital occupations.
  • Make AI a core competence for pupils across the curriculum.
  • Teach the human skills AI cannot replicate, such as critical thinking, judgement and communication.
  • Put human resources teams, not technology teams, in charge of how AI recruiting tools are set up and used.
  • Prepare young people earlier with the skills they need for the AI economy, before they leave school.
  • Reform teacher training so all teachers are required to undertake in-service digital and AI skills training, with headteachers prioritising AI literacy and Ofsted reporting on progress.
  • Accelerate planned curriculum updates to include digital and AI skills in schools, with content reviewed regularly so it keeps pace with technology and labour market needs.
  • Promote entrepreneurship and the option of setting up a business, including in sectors that AI will reshape.
  • Strongly encourage employers to offer work experience and support British start-ups and access to finance.
  • Press for participation in the Scaleup Europe Fund.
  • Monitor and communicate findings about AI’s impact on jobs so companies, employees and young people across the UK can plan, upskill and adapt.
  • Promote vocational roles in growing sectors, including data centres.
  • Increase apprenticeships for under-25s in SMEs within the Youth Guarantee and monitor employer take-up.
  • Keep BTEC funding in place in each subject until its V Level replacement is running.
  • Make the Jobs Guarantee available after 12 months of Universal Credit claims, not 18 months, and consider extending the scheme to young people not on benefits.

The report argues that this is a question of intergenerational fairness. Young people will spend their whole working lives in the AI economy, and should have the opportunities previous generations had by being properly equipped for the world of work they will enter.

Read the full report

Download Prosper UK’s report: Who is preparing young people for the age of AI? A plan to get the next generation ready for work.

Read the report