Amazon’s UK boss said young people should not be blamed for high levels of unemployment, arguing that the education system is failing to prepare them for work.John Pumphrey, Amazon’s UK director, said businesses across the country were struggling to recruit workers with the skills they needed despite there being nearly a million young people in Britain out of education, work or training.Speaking to the BBC, Pumphrey rejected claims that younger generations lack motivation or resilience.He added: “We have to stop blaming young people.”“It’s not a stimulus problem, it’s a system problem, and that requires a system response.”Official figures released this week showed that the UK unemployment rate rose to 5 per cent in the three months to March, up slightly from 4.9 per cent in the previous reporting period, the BBC reported.Young people have been particularly affected by the hiring slowdown, as a decline in the number of hospitality jobs and cuts in graduate recruitment schemes have weakened the labor market.Amazon faces the opposite challenge, struggling to hire enough workers for technical and engineering roles, Pumphrey said.Amazon currently employs about 75,000 people in the UK, according to Pumphrey, about half of whom join directly from education or unemployment.
He said schools and colleges were not equipping students with practical skills in the workplace, and called for practical training to be made compulsory for everyone over the age of 16.He said practical experience helps young people develop the communication, teamwork and problem-solving abilities that employers increasingly expect.“If you get a T-level student, they will come for a week, and they will understand the value of teamwork, communication and problem-solving,” he said during an interview with BBC’s Big Boss.Pumphrey also called for closer collaboration between businesses, local authorities and further education colleges to address regional skills shortages.“I think you need businesses to collaborate with local governments and further education colleges,” he said.“You need it to happen on a regional basis so you can understand the skills gaps.”Amazon operates around 100 sites across the UK, including 30 warehouses.The company has seen increased demand for technicians and engineering specialists as automation and robotics expand across its warehouses, Pumphrey said, adding that Amazon has been struggling to hire enough people to fill those positions.