Britain’s labour market debate over young people outside work has intensified after Amazon’s UK country manager John Boumphrey rejected claims that Generation Z lacks motivation, arguing instead that the education system is failing to prepare them for employment.
Speaking in an interview for the BBC’s Big Boss series, Boumphrey said criticism directed at young people did not match what he observes across Amazon’s UK operations, which employ around 75,000 staff across roughly 100 sites. About half of those hires, he noted, come directly from education, unemployment or first-time employment pathways.
“We have to stop blaming young people,” he said, adding that schools and colleges are not consistently producing job-ready candidates.
His comments come as UK labour market data shows almost one million people aged 16 to 24 are classified as NEET — not in education, employment or training — according to the Office for National Statistics. The unemployment rate also edged up to 5 per cent in the three months to March, adding pressure to an already strained entry-level job market.
For small and medium-sized businesses, which provide a large share of starter jobs, conditions have tightened further. Hospitality hiring has slowed, retail entry roles have declined, and structured graduate or trainee schemes have been reduced, limiting traditional pathways into work.
Boumphrey said the issue is often misdiagnosed. “I think too often you read about young people that somehow they lack motivation, they lack resilience,” he said. “That is not our experience.”
He proposed expanding mandatory work experience for all over-16s, suggesting that even short placements can help build teamwork, communication and problem-solving skills. He pointed to T-level qualifications, which include extended industry placements, as an example of how structured exposure to workplaces can improve readiness.
Amazon itself faces a contradiction in the labour market. While expanding its UK footprint through its £40bn investment programme, the company says it struggles to recruit for technical roles tied to warehouse automation, including robotics maintenance and mechatronics engineering.
“When Amazon introduced robots into its warehouses there was some concern they would replace people,” Boumphrey said. “Actually, the reverse happened.”
He said demand for skilled technicians has outpaced supply and called for stronger coordination between employers, local authorities and education providers to address regional skills shortages.
On taxation, Boumphrey said Amazon paid more than £5.8bn in UK taxes last year and contributes significantly through employment. The company now accounts for around 30 per cent of UK online retail sales.
The wider implication of his remarks is that the youth employment challenge is less about attitude and more about structure. As Boumphrey framed it, the problem lies in the availability of pathways into work rather than willingness to work itself, raising fresh questions about how education and industry align in the UK economy.
