The King’s Trust Group are publishing “A Digital Disconnection? How a holistic view of our digital future can better support opportunities for young people”.
This report on digital jobs and skills is the fourth in our series on young people’s attitudes to the future of work. Like its predecessors, Generation ‘Stand Up, Start Up’ (2021), An ‘Upskill Struggle’ (2022) and ‘Overlooked and Underprepared’ (2023) it is supported by HSBC Holdings plc, the Global Founding Corporate Partner of The King’s Trust Group.
The report uncovers the challenges young people face accessing and developing the digital skills they will need to find a place in the digitally dominated global economy. In undertaking this research and publishing our findings, we aim to ensure the voices of young people:
▶ are central in debates about their future, whether that be with policymakers,
education institutions, employers or charities who support young people; and
▶ inform the work we do with them and the programmes we deliver.
The world is undergoing a workplace digital revolution, where digital jobs and skills are becoming increasingly essential. Even in low-income countries, many jobs now require basic use of computers or smartphones, and the future will demand even higher levels of digital literacy. However, young people face significant barriers to acquiring these skills, including outdated education systems, rapidly changing technology, limited access to devices and data, and gender disparities.
The digital revolution poses an opportunity to level the playing field, but it is clear that without equitable access, it risks entrenching or even exacerbating already existing global inequalities.
Our central argument is that employers, educators and young people each have a different perspective of what is needed when it comes to digital jobs and skills and often talk past each other. This lack of clarity can make digital jobs and skills feel abstract, out of reach and unattainable. We present a framework to help us make sense of these different perspectives and support a more holistic analysis.
By building on insights from focus groups with young people in five countries, the report gives them a voice in a debate that is often carried out for them, rather than with them. We hope this research helps employers, educators, civil society and young people to build a shared view of digital jobs and skills and what equity in these spaces looks like. Only a holistic approach can ensure that all young people gain the skills needed to thrive in the digital economy.