Blueprint for All commissioned original research with over 500 young people, into how the Covid-19 crisis is affecting their path to higher education and professional careers.

The stark findings reveal that young people who have encountered disadvantages in their life are being disproportionately affected by the pandemic, having severe implications on their overall life chances. This is having a knock-on effect for employers who risk missing out on the opportunity to recruit a new, diverse generation of talent.

Key insights from the report include:

Young people who have encountered disadvantages in their life are considering dropping out of education at over twice the rate of those from advantaged backgrounds (24% vs 11%) due to the strain on their finances caused by the pandemic

• 73% of young people from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds have had to take on a job/work to supplement their student loan, which is a key barrier to staying in education
• 45% of students from vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds agree that they have abandoned their plans for a professional career because of factors related to the pandemic
• For more key insights, you can download the full report here.