Transitions into work for young people with complex needs
- Emma Anderson
Abstract
Youth unemployment rates in the United Kingdom are almost triple that of adults (11.3% vs. 4%), particularly impacting the employability of young people with complex needs, of whom 61.8% are unemployed. Interventions facilitating transition into work can operate at individual, community and government levels. The main objectives of this review were to explore current practices, identify factors affecting and strategies used to improve employability, and classify strategies at multi-levels. Findings suggest that collaborative strategies covering training, work practices, therapeutic support and creating appropriate work environments, with active involvement of young people, are key in supporting young people with complex needs into employment. Classification of factors indicated four categories: skills-based approaches, job/work experience accessing approaches, therapeutic interventions, and supportive working environments.
Introduction
Significant changes within Europe over recent years, at political and financial levels, have had a substantial impact on many people’s lives (United Nations, Citation2018). One of the most important impacts has been the effect of the economic crisis on society and employability. In this study, the term “employability” refers to individual factors (employability skills and attributes, demographic characteristics, health and wellbeing, job seeking, adaptability and mobility), personal circumstances (household circumstances, work culture, access to resources) and external factors (demand and enabling support factors) which have a significant effect when a person is looking for work (McQuaid & Lindsay, Citation2005). Past research reveals high levels of youth unemployment in many European countries (Banerji et al., Citation2014). The youth unemployment rate pertains to a transition period from education into the labour market between the ages of 16 and 24. Although there has been a decrease in UK youth unemployment rates in the last few years, the statistics are still alarming, especially when compared to general employment rates. The recent youth unemployment rate in the UK was 11.3% between April and June 2018 (McGuiness, Citation2018). Of these youth, 16% were unemployed for long periods of 12 months or more. The youth unemployment rate in the UK is relatively low when compared with the average figures in the European Union (EU, 15.2%) and Euro Area (16.9%). However, it is still almost three times higher than the adult unemployment rate in the UK, which is around 4% (McGuiness, Citation2018).
According to the EU’s growth strategy, initiatives seeking to raise the level of employment among young people should include extra support for those experiencing complex health, emotional, social, or physical problems (Grammenos, Citation2013). This is unsurprising, given the considerable amount of research demonstrating that young people with complex needs have to contend with weak employability (Broad, Citation2003; Dixon & Stein, Citation2005; Moran et al., Citation2001), particularly in relation to lack of skills, insufficient support and unsuitable work conditions. For instance, Powell (Citation2018) reported that only 38.2% of youth with complex needs are in employment in the UK. This indicates that unemployment rate for those young people is almost six times higher than that for youth in general.
Whilst unemployment has negative consequences for many aspects of all young people’s lives, it has a greater impact on the lives and wellbeing of those with complex needs (The Prince’s Trust, Citation2014). Thirty-five per cent of young people facing unemployment report a variety of mental health problems, including panic attacks and suicidal thoughts (The Prince’s Trust, Citation2015). Many feel that they are not in control of their lives, have health issues, and face lower levels of future employability (Bell & Blanchflower, Citation2011; Bynner & Parsons, Citation2002). Equally, long periods of unemployment for young people with complex needs appear to have financial and psychological effects, such as, lower future incomes, gradual depreciation of acquired skills, sense of life dissatisfaction and unwillingness to work (OECD, Citation2013). Furthermore, even when employment is gained, this is often in part-time, low-paid, and low-skilled jobs (Powell, Citation2018), which make it difficult to plan a future-oriented career.
Complex needs and employability
Identifying people with complex needs leads to the construction of two broad groups that are different but interrelated (Rankin & Regan, Citation2004): those confronting health issues, and those with social exclusion issues. Firstly, when considering the health issues of people with complex needs, we use the term “complex needs” to refer to people with intellectual, physical, and multiple disabilities such as: learning disabilities; impairments of hearing, vision and movement; as well as epilepsy and autism, challenging behaviours, or mental health problems (Mansell & Beadle-Brown, Citation2010; Scottish Executive, Citation2000). Secondly, complex needs might be due to social exclusion issues, including: high levels of deprivation, poverty, homelessness, imprisonment, unemployment, migration, literacy problems, high risk of crime behaviour, substance abuse and young people in care (Pantazis et al., Citation2006; Scottish Executive, Citation2005; Social Exclusion Unit, Citation2005; Stanley et al., Citation2005). Complex needs due to health and social issues are interrelated. A young person being affected by one adversity (either health-related or social) is likely to encounter other difficulties (The Prince’s Trust, Citation2004). And the cumulative nature of difficulties creates more complexity for young people, putting them at greater risk.
In this study, we use a systematic review to investigate strategies for helping young people with complex needs to transition into paid employment. Such strategies may include capacity-building interventions, including both vocational and life skills training, which might have an emancipatory role in young people’s lives, transforming their life experiences. These interventions might require a collaborative and collective approach to develop, implement and maintain the practices, and actively involve the young people themselves in the process. In order for these interventions to be successful, incorporating a close, therapeutic support system is likely to be a crucial element.
Thus, in this systematic review, we investigate the effects of the practices aimed at helping young people with complex needs to improve their employability, at the time the search was carried out. The objectives of the review are to:
Identify the factors affecting and strategies used to improve the employability of young people with complex needs.
Classify these strategies at the individual, community, and governmental levels.
Method
Search procedures
Twenty-one electronic databases were used to search for and identify studies published in English, between the year 2000 and 2017. These databases were: AMED – The Allied and Complementary Medicine Database, Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson), Art Index Retrospective (H.W. Wilson), British Education Index, Business Source Premier, Child Development & Adolescent Studies, CINAHL Plus with Full Text, Communication & Mass Media Complete, Criminal Justice Abstracts, eBook Collection (EBSCOhost), Education Abstracts (H.W. Wilson), Educational Administration Abstracts, E-Journals, ERIC, GreenFILE, Hospitality & Tourism Index, Library, Information Science & Technology Abstracts, PsycINFO, Regional Business News, SPORTDiscus, and Teacher Reference Center. The search terms were: “employ*” OR “unemploy*” AND “complex needs” in article abstracts. The initial search identified 1,189 articles. After specifying age limits to only include the ages 18–30 years old, the number of articles was reduced to 175.
Study selection and data extraction
The titles and abstracts of the 175 articles were screened for relevance to this review by two of the authors. Documents deemed relevant on the basis of the abstract review were retrieved in full text, examined, and compared against the following inclusion criteria for the review:
1. The study population was within the UK and Ireland.
2. The age range of the study population was 18–30 years.
3. The studies referred to people with complex needs as defined in the beginning of this review.
4. The studies referred to the employment or unemployment opportunities of people with complex needs.
5. The studies were about people with complex needs and not about the needs of employers or practitioners.
6. The studies were original.