The Good Youth Employment Benchmark

Creating an evidence base of good youth employment practice

This is an updated version of the 2022 evaluation by IES (commissioned by Youth Employment UK) which asked the following questions about youth employment practice:

What existing frameworks and toolkits are aimed at employers?

• How are they utilised by employers?
• What is the research evidence about utilisation (take-up), traction, and effectiveness?

What is the evidence base on employer practice supporting youth employment?

• Reviewing the current Framework - what is missing from the current Framework in regard to youth-friendly employer practices?
• Can the Benchmark be used to capture evidence of where there are gaps?

The review found a range of existing frameworks, but common challenges around awareness and take-up, and a lack of evidence on effectiveness. The review also found that the Youth Friendly Employer Award Framework is based on a range of good evidence and of different types - robust quantitative and qualitative analysis.

Two key lessons for implementing the Good Youth Employment Benchmark can be drawn out from this current research involving a review of the evidence-base and employer interviews – the need for the Benchmark to be accessible to employers and for it to be engaging once they have registered.

Following on from this, a number of recommendations are provided which can help Youth Employment UK develop a benchmarking tool that encourages employers to take on the best-evidenced practices, self-assess how they are progressing in delivering these practices, collect data on the reach of these practices to help increase the evidence-base, and ultimately make a difference to supporting young people into good employment.