“Too many young people are being denied the chance to get a foot on the career ladder,” Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said as ministers launched the latest Industrial Strategy Jobs Plans on Monday 19 October. The government says the package will open more than 100,000 job and training opportunities a year, with the first plans covering professional and business services and construction, and more to follow in digital and defence. The announcement also lands ahead of the final Milburn review into young people and employment. (gov.uk) For northern readers, the line that matters most may be the one on devolution. Whitehall says mayors, employers and Local Skills Improvement Plans will help shape training around the jobs each area actually needs, which is exactly the test towns and city regions outside the capital will apply to this promise. (gov.uk)

In professional and business services, firms have committed to 22,400 new under-25 apprenticeships a year for the next five years, alongside a 20 per cent rise in work experience. The roles stretch from accountancy and law to AI, cyber security and data analytics, and the wider plan talks about clear career pathways rather than a narrow graduate route. (gov.uk) There is also a nod to job quality, not only recruitment. According to GOV.UK, employers in the sector are backing wider Living Wage use, a new good jobs standard, AI literacy training and better salary transparency at entry level. For northern city economies with growing office, legal and tech bases, that could matter just as much as the apprenticeship total. (gov.uk)

Construction carries the biggest single volume. The government says 40,000 construction placements a year will sit alongside the sector’s earlier ambition to create 100,000 job opportunities annually, with work spanning trades such as bricklaying, carpentry, electrical work and plumbing as well as surveying, planning and site management. (gov.uk) A new Construction Apprenticeship Network is meant to help smaller firms bring young people in, while major projects and new technology are supposed to raise skills, productivity and job quality through procurement and social value rules. In a region where many jobs are created by local contractors and specialist suppliers, that is the sort of detail worth watching. (gov.uk)

Defence is next in line. Ministers say the coming Defence Jobs Plan will lift the number of people supported through apprenticeship programmes in the sector to at least 14,000 a year by 2035. Firms are also expected to expand work experience and routes for young people not in education, employment or training by 25 per cent, with a ‘no wrong door’ approach across the supply chain for suitable candidates. (gov.uk) For industrial areas with defence links, directly or through suppliers, that could become one of the more practical parts of the wider strategy. It is also another sign that ministers want reindustrialisation to sound like a route into paid work, not just another Westminster slogan. (gov.uk)

Behind the headlines sits a bigger youth employment package. The government says £2.5 billion is being put into support that will create almost one million opportunities for young people to earn or learn, while the Jobs Guarantee is already being rolled out for 18 to 24-year-olds who have been on Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months. Greater Manchester is one of the first areas named, giving the North an early taste of how delivery might work. (gov.uk) Small firms will read the fine print carefully. Ministers have already promised 50,000 more apprenticeships for young people, and non-levy employers can get a hiring payment of up to £2,000 when they take on a new apprentice aged 16 to 24. Continued National Insurance relief for under-21s and apprentices under 25 remains part of the offer. (gov.uk)

This is being sold as part of a broader rebuild of technical education. Alongside the Jobs Plans, the government has been expanding Technical Excellence Colleges and setting out new technical pathways. Earlier Jobs Plans have already been published for financial services, clean energy and life sciences, with advanced manufacturing and creative industries still to come. (gov.uk) The government’s own figures say jobs in its eight priority Industrial Strategy sectors pay about £8,000 more than jobs across the wider economy. Northern communities have heard big promises on rebalancing before. This one will be judged much more simply: can a young person find a decent skilled route close to home, or is it another smart-looking plan that never quite reaches the street? (gov.uk)