NEET Numbers Fall But Only 11% Of Job Vacancies Are Available For Entry Level Positions

Unemployed Youths 'Would Cover 7 Glastonbury Festival Fields'

New jobs figures have highlighted the plight young Brits are facing when it comes to finding a job - despite the overall number of job vacancies rising in the UK in February, just 11% of available job vacancies are entry level positions - and there's 17 applicants for every entry level position.

Adzuna, the jobs site aggregator, calculated that there were enough unemployed youths to cover the Glastonbury Fields seven times over.

Even going to university doesn't seem to offer a leg up the career ladder - more than 50 graduates fighting it out for every graduate job vacancy.

And to make matters worse, graduate salaries are down nearly 5% this month compared to the summer months of 2012.

The best chance of finding a job at entry level was by looking at the sales sector, which had the highest number of entry level positions at 20% of all vacancies. Customer service (13% of vacancies) and IT (9% of vacancies) close runners up.

Engineering was the best sector to find an apprenticeship in, with apprenticeships accounting for 32% of the vacancies. Administration wasn't far behind on 23%, with IT coming third with 10%.

Official figures from the Office for National Statistics for the last quarter of 2012 showed there were 893,000 people aged from 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training (Neet), down from 957,000 for the same period in 2011.

The figure is thought to have been helped by more than 500,000 people starting an apprenticeship between 2011 to 2012 - an increase of 14%. But there are concerns that some of those apprenticeships are being taken up by older workers.

Karen Buck MP, Labour's shadow minister for young people, told the BBC: "Any headline fall in the numbers of young people out of work, education or training is welcome but there are still far too many young people who are dropping out.

"Most worrying is the increase in 18-year-olds who are out of work, education or training compared to 2010. It's not surprising given the number of apprenticeships going to young people is falling and the government abolished the Education Maintenance Allowance."

A new study highlights the role apprenticeships play in getting school and college leavers into work. A report commissioned by the Association of Accounting Technicians and compiled by CEBR reveals that, unlike previously, those with vocational qualifications can earn an estimated £150,000 more over their lifetime than someone with no qualifications, which is comparable to the earnings advantage a graduate could expect - see more from this report in the video at the bottom of this article.

Other jobs stats from Adzuna showed the total number of vacancies across the UK had increased by 4% over the past six months, but 22.1% of the jobs were only part time roles.

Rates of pay in Britain are also falling - the average advertised wage stands at £33,166 per annum, down 4.4% over 6 months.

There are currently 3.22 jobseekers per vacancy in the UK. The number of people in Britain out of a job but seeking work is down by 12,500 this month according to the Office of National Statistics.

Below is a map showing the best and worst places to find a job in the UK, using February's job vacancy figures.

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