A new Scottish government survey has found that more businesses are recruiting school leavers - and the majority say they are well prepared for work. But lack of life experience and a poor attitude continue to be bugbears for bosses.

A new survey of 1,000 employers conducted between November and December finds that 21 per cent recruited a secondary school leaver in the previous 12 months, against 20 per cent in 2019 and 19 per cent in 2016 and 2014.

In 2021 employers were also much more enthusiastic about how ready school leavers were to take on a job. Last year, 68 per cent of those who had employed a school leaver said they were very well or well prepared for work, compared to 58 per cent in 2019, 65 per cent in 2016 and 63 per cent in 2014.

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The top three skills that young recruits were perceived by employers to lack remained the same irrespective of whether they entered work directly from school, college or university.

These were: lack of life experience (17 per cent of secondary school leavers; 8 per cent of college and university leavers); a poor attitude (13 per cent of secondary school leavers; 4 per cent of college leavers and 4 per cent of university leavers); and a lack of required skills or competencies (6 per cent of secondary school leavers; 8 per cent of college leavers and 3 per cent of university leavers).

Education leavers’ perceived preparedness for work, 2014-21

However, while the survey revealed that employers still had some complaints about how prepared young people were for work, it also showed that they had offered less work experience in 2021.

The proportion of employers providing placements for people at school fell to 8 per cent in 2021, compared to 20 per cent in 2019.

Types of placements provided

The survey report said the main reason for employers not offering work placements was Covid-19 pressures, such as a lack of work or site closures.

But it also said lack of awareness was a “relatively common reason”, including employers not knowing how to organise these activities, not having had anybody approach them, or not having thought about doing these before.

In 2013 the Scottish government set up the Commission for Developing Scotland’s Young Workforce in a bid to improve young people’s transitions from education to employment.

It reported in 2014 and one of its recommendations was to establish regional industry-led groups to facilitate better engagement between employers and education. That recommendation gave rise to the 21 Developing the Young Workforce Regional Groups.

The survey found, however, that just 15 per cent of employers had heard of the DYW Regional Groups and just 2 per cent of employers had engaged with their local DYW lead or regional group over the past 12 months.