ABSTRACT
This chapter analyzes the growing problems that young people faced in making secure transitions into the labour market during the period of coalition government between 2010 and 2015. It locates the UK developments in a wider context and examines the policies within the coalition government's Youth Contract that was launched in 2012. The chapter discusses the emphasis on apprenticeship that was an important feature of coalition policy around employment and skills. Campaigns highlighted the phenomenon of the normalization of the expectation of periods of unpaid work experience at all levels of education and skill. The chapter evaluates government policy during this period, locating it within historical and international comparative context. It explores employer behaviour with regard to training and recruiting young people and how there remain very serious challenges to engaging employers when the overall policy direction is towards employer unilateralism and labour market flexibility.
