On February 19th, young people, employers, policymakers, and community leaders gathered at Friends’ Meeting House in Manchester for the inaugural Northern Cities Youth Employment Conference.
🕒 Estimated read time: 6 minutes
Organised by Young Manchester, Making Education a Priority (MEaP) and Action for Race Equality (ARE), and supported by Youth Futures Foundation (YFF), the event aimed to address barriers to youth employment for individuals from Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage backgrounds.
The conference focused on creating a space young people, employability providers other key stakeholders to discuss inclusive hiring practices, equitable workplaces, and long-term career pathways for those from ethnic minority backgrounds.
Understanding Barriers to Youth Employment
The event commenced with a keynote from Erinma Bell MBE, a local councillor and peace activist, who stressed that employment opportunities or underrepresented young people must go beyond access and should ensure meaningful representation and career progression across all industries.
“When we talk about employment opportunities for young Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage individuals, we’re actually talking about more than just jobs. We’re talking about access, representation, and the ability to contribute meaningfully to the industries that should reflect the diversity of our communities.”
Bell highlighted the systemic barriers young people face, including limited networks, discriminatory hiring practices, and a lack of representation in key sectors which prevents these young people from long-term employment.
ARE’s Chief Executive, Jeremy Crook OBE, outlined the long-standing disparities in employment, highlighting the need for greater collaboration between youth organisations, employers, and policymaker:
For a very long time, there has been a disparity—the employment rate for young Black, Asian, and Mixed Heritage young people has been much lower than for white young people. We have been working hard with young people, youth organisations, government departments, and employers across the country to address that particular issue.”
This was followed by an interactive quiz led by ARE Deputy Chief Executive, Indra Nauth, where attendees broke into small groups to reflect on key issues— including the disproportionately high rates of young people who are not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET).
The NEET rate for young people from Pakistani backgrounds stands at 13.9%, with Black Caribbean background being 2.3 times higher than for those who are White.
Despite South Asian hertiage making up 20.9% of Manchester’s population across all ages, young people have especially continued to face barriers to employment, a challenge which was highlighted by Hanif Alli from BASE X Community Development Agency, who stressed the need for young people’s voices to shape employment initiatives.
Young People at the Centre of the Conversation
A key highlight was the Young People’s Panel, featuring Lucia Ene-Lesikar, Mubarak Tairo, and Nikita Patel, who shared first-hand experiences of navigating the job market.
- Limited pathways into high-skilled industries:
The panelists began by emphasising the need for more accessible pathways into employment, ensuring that opportunities are not restricted by traditional entry requirements such as the typical academic routes which can often restrict career options early on, limiting access to diverse industries.
I think naturally, the academic school pathway begins to limit you very early depending on what signals you give them in terms of your grades. Someone can be very good at Maths, but why aren’t they given a ‘taster class’ at a top university?”
– Mubarak Tairo
- The power of networks:
Another key issue discussed was the critical role of networks—’who you know’ can often determine access to opportunities which may provide an additional barrier for young people from underrepresented backgrounds into to break into higher skilled industries.
However, beyond connections, there was a strong call for employers to foster a culture of trust in young people’s ability to succeed, as the panelists shared personal experiences of how being trusted with responsibilities early in their careers helped them grow, upskill, and gain confidence.
There feels like there is a lot of ‘hidden networking,’ making it incredibly difficult to break through, especially for people from our backgrounds. We want to do well and develop employable skills, but we don’t get these opportunities—there needs to be more trust in us.”
— Lucia Ene-Lesikar
- The need for employer trust, helping build confidence and competence:
The panelists emphasised that real learning comes from experience, and having the courage to take on new challenges is a crucial part of professional development. They highlighted how current initiatives mentorship, and inclusive hiring practices are key to breaking down industry barriers and creating equitable employment pathways for young people but raised questions about any other forms of experience-building opportunities.
A clear call to action was that employers must provide opportunities for young people to build confidence and develop skills and consequence through real responsibilities, rather than restricting access due to lack of experience or knowledge.
Employer Engagement: Solutions in Action
The Employer Panel, hosted by Young Manchester CEO, Samuel Remi-Akinwale, featured those from law, construction, public services, and corporate sectors, as they shared current initiatives to bridge employment gaps, including tailored support for young people, mentorships, and direct school partnerships aimed at tackling the number of young people who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training).
Panelists included:
• Charlie Pendlebury (Diversity Inclusion & Wellbeing Adviser, Mills & Reeves)
• Christella Twagirayezu (Client Sales Executive, Vodafone Business)
• Sam Cooper (Social Value Coordinator, BAM Construction)
• Yvonne Dhlamini (Works and Skills Officer, Building Relationships with Employers and Educator, BREE)
We’re connecting schools directly with employers to create a more structured point of contact, which has proven far more effective as it allows employers to co-design support initiatives, ensuring that young people receive the guidance and opportunities they need to succeed.”
Yvonne Dhlamini (Works and Skills Officer, BREE)
Another key focus was strengthening collaboration between schools and employers to ensure young people receive structured, tailored career support. Employers emphasised the need to co-design initiatives that equip young people with practical skills and clear career pathways.
The panel reinforced that meaningful engagement between employers, training providers, and schools is essential for tackling employment disparities and ensuring young people can access and progress within sustainable careers.
Workshops: Turning Discussions into Action
The afternoon featured four interactive workshops, providing young people and key stakeholders with the opportunity to explore employment challenges in greater depth and presented potential solutions developed by community leaders and organisations that work directly with young people to create more inclusive career pathways
These included:
- Reaching Underrepresented Talent – Exploring recruitment strategies for increasing diversity (Sam Cooper, BAM Construction)
- The Role Model Effect – How mentorship programmes such as Spark Mentoring helps shape career paths by giving young people from the Windrush community the support to achieve their own personal development goals. (Led by George Brown & Anthony Brown, Windrush Legal Defenders)
- Collaborative Action – Building partnerships between businesses, policymakers, and community groups (Erinma Bell MBE, CARISMA Services)
- Systemic Change in Youth Employment – Structural solutions to employment inequalities facilitated by Indra Nauth (ARE), Bal Dhanjal (YFF), Henry Ngawoofah (MEaP)
As the event concluded, attendees were encouraged to continue the momentum built by the conference, which served as an important, reflective and powerful forum for action by bringing together young people, employers, and policymakers, the event laid the foundation for real, tangible progress in addressing youth unemployment disparities.
This conference was made possible with the continued support of the Youth Futures Foundation.
For any media or general enquiries please email: Hello@actionforraceequality.org.uk
