Esther McVey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, says teens should get their noses out of books and go get a job.
What it means: The number of teenagers doing part-time work over the summer holidays has fallen from 42% to 18% in the last ten years. Girls are more likely to take on a summer job than boys.
Esther McVey thinks we should get more teens back into work, instead of focusing all their time on studying. Jobs teach youngsters 'soft skills', she says, like customer service and problem solving. A bit of experience will also make it easier to get a job later down the line.
She's placing 20,000 vacancies for part-time jobs for young people on the government's Find A Job website. It's not clear whether that means she thinks a lack of vacancies is the problem, or if its a symbolic move to encourage young people to get applying. If it's the former, though, she'll need to create a few more: there are 1.5 million 16 to 17 year olds in the UK.
