Dollar Financial UK backs Young Enterprise as youth unemployment rise

As unemployment among young adults continues to rise Dollar Financial UK is sending its staff into schools to help youngsters understand the link between a good education and the ability to secure the best jobs.

Volunteer staff from the leading short-term consumer credit and financial services company are working with Young Enterprise to help pupils understand the link between education, training and employment.

The first official jobless figures of 2012 released today (January 18, 2012) reveal that 1.043m people aged between 16 and 24 are out of work – the highest level since records were first collated in 1992.

The figures show that, overall, unemployment in the three months to November rose to 2.685m up 118,000 and now stand at 8.4% of the working population. The rate among 16-24-year-olds, however, is 22.3%.

Young Enterprise works to inspire students by connecting them and their schools with volunteers from the world of work. It believes the country’s long-term prosperity is being threatened because the education system is not equipping school-leavers with the skills they need for employment.

During 2012 staff from Dollar Financial UK companies will visit schools in Nottingham, where the business has its UK headquarters; north west London; and other parts of the South East.

Part of their work will be to deliver Learn to Earn sessions to hundreds of teenagers, raising pupils’ aspirations and supporting them to develop enterprising skills and attitudes.

Each year about 3,500 businesses help more than 250,000 youngsters, aged between four and 25, in more than 5,000 schools, colleges, universities and their communities.

Young Enterprise is campaigning for schools to boost employability skills, rather than adopt a narrow focus on academic subjects. It says many young people are failing to secure work because they don’t have the ability to link what they learn at school with the world of work. It says many school-leavers lack commercial awareness, interpersonal skills and the motivation required by employers.

Each year about 3,500 businesses help more than 250,000 youngsters, aged between four and 25, in more than 5,000 schools, colleges, universities and their communities.

Dollar Financial UK’s corporate affairs director Caroline Walton said: “Schools are under growing pressure these days to concentrate on purely academic subjects. Looking at the wider world of work and what business needs can slip down the list of priorities without support from the likes of Young Enterprise.

“Getting our employees into schools fits well with our commitment to staff development and our wider consumer education policies, helping our customers improve their long-term financial situation.”

Dollar Financial UK is part of the US-based DFC Global Corp, which has operations in the USA, the UK, Canada, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden, Finland and Poland.

In the UK, the group embraces The Money Shop, Payday Express and Payday UK brands, business cash advances, foreign cash exchange and jewellery and pawnbroking business such as Suttons and Robertsons, Duncanson and Edwards and Robert Biggar.

As a leading member of the Consumer Finance Association, Dollar Financial UK is committed to responsible lending and is regulated by the Office of Fair Trading.

Ends