Amazon UK boss: Education system failing to equip young people with work skills

Record levels of young people are out of work – but it is not their fault, Amazon's UK boss has said.

"We have to stop blaming young people," John Boumphrey told the BBC, adding the education system isn't "producing young people who are ready for work".

Nearly a million young Britons are not in education, employment or training, yet Boumphrey says Amazon struggles to recruit workers with the skills it needs.

He called for work experience to be mandatory for over 16s. "It's not a motivation problem, it's a system problem, and that requires a system response."

Amazon employs 75,000 people in the UK, half of whom come straight from education or unemployment, according to Boumphrey.

Official figures show the UK's unemployment rate rose slightly to 5% in the three months to March from 4.9% in the three months to February.

Boumphrey, Amazon's country manager for the UK, said: "I think too often you read about young people that somehow they lack motivation, they lack resilience, they lack the will to develop skills. That is not our experience.

"We work with some individuals who are probably furthest from work and that's where we actually see the biggest transformation."

Work experience should be mandatory for over-16s because it is "transformative" in helping young people learn "things that I don't think we teach in our curriculum, but that all employers are looking for", he said.

"If you get a T-level student, they come in for a week, they understand the value of teamwork, of communication and problem solving," he told the BBC's Big Boss interview.

The UK is experiencing a weak jobs market, with young people particularly affected by cuts in hospitality and graduate schemes.

But Boumphrey said Amazon has the opposite problem – it struggles to find enough workers with the skills the company needs.

"I think you need businesses to come together with local governments and further education colleges, and you need that to happen on a regional basis so that you can understand what the skills gaps are," he said.

Boumphrey said when Amazon introduced robots into its warehouses there was some concern they would replace people.

"Actually, the reverse happened...we ended up employing more people," he said.

"Mechatronics engineers, people who can actually maintain the robots, people who are technicians...they're not roles that exist. We can't find enough people to fill those roles."

Amazon has been scrutinised for the amount of tax it pays in the UK, with critics saying its tax bill has not increased in line with its sales with the rise of online shopping since the Covid-19 pandemic.