White Paper, green Jobs?

Ministers have today announced plans to increase the numbers of people in work substantially. The Get Britain Working White Paper sets out measures including the overhaul of Job Centres as a new National Jobs and Careers Service, a ‘Youth Guarantee’ of an apprenticeship for all 18-21 year olds and a £45 million ‘trailblazer’ scheme across eight English regions.

Beyond the headlines, ‘green jobs’ must surely be an important part of any strategy to increase the proportion of young people in work. Labour’s election pledge to make the UK a clean energy superpower hinged on creating hundreds of thousands of jobs as part of the energy transition. Given that, it’s perhaps surprising how little green jobs feature in today’s announcement.

The reality is more complex. Measures such as the £21.7 billion to kick-start carbon capture projects announced by the Government in September are a good start in delivering energy transition jobs in industrial clusters – but for the large part it’s questionable whether the jobs are there yet.

Northvolt’s filing for bankruptcy last week highlights challenges across Europe in developing a domestic supply chain. Debate around Chinese wind turbine manufacturer Minyang’s proposals to open a turbine factory in Scotland, meanwhile, points to the political challenges of securing investment in a domestic supply chain from abroad. And this is all before the uncertain impact of potential US tariffs on renewables.

Skill shortages are well understood as a barrier to the transition. The establishment of the National Jobs and Careers Service, the Youth Guarantee and the trailblazer scheme are all opportunities to begin bridging this gap – it would be encouraging to see more evidence of work with the energy sector in the detail.