6. How is the Welsh Government supporting young workers in Wales? OQ57854

I thank Jack Sargeant, Llywydd, for that. Implementing the young person's guarantee, investing in skills, funding personal learning accounts, and making Wales a fair work nation are amongst the actions we are taking to support young workers in every part of Wales.

Diolch yn fawr, Prif Weinidog. The Resolution Foundation recently carried out research that found, after COVID hit, people under the age of 34 are more likely to face unemployment or precarious work. I'm sure our colleague from across the Chamber Tom Giffard will have seen that I've used my own social media channels to reach out to young people, asking them for their own experiences. First Minister, what came back was not good reading.

One respondent told me that whilst working in the hospitality sector during the pandemic, they were discouraged from wearing a mask and told it would, and I quote, First Minister, 'affect tips for female workers'. Another young person talked about being forced into a fake and exploitative apprenticeship, stating, and again, I quote,

'They didn't even sign me up for the course, so I was just paid half the wage for the same work and got no training.'

A common issue many faced was precarious contracts, with one individual applying for a job advertised at 40 hours a week, only to receive an offer of a zero-hours contract.

First Minister, I can see that I'm out of time here, but I could go on. The research and the responses highlight clearly that we need more workplace protections and for employees to join a trade union. I'm going to continue this work and campaign for change. Will you join me, First Minister, in taking this message to the UK Government, that you can't level up by allowing poor employers to behave disgracefully like this?

Well, Llywydd, I congratulate Jack Sargeant on the work that he's carried out himself with young people, and the points he makes have surely been given even more urgency in this last week by the actions of employers at P&O. There'll be people from his constituency, there in the north-east of Wales, who have earned their living in Liverpool, where P&O operate. I heard the former Conservative Minister Ros Altmann on the radio this morning calling for further action against the company, particularly a refusal to allow the parent company to become involved in the freeports plans of the UK Government. There's a practical way in which a Government could demonstrate its determination that the sorts of responses that you heard from Jack Sargeant there are not replicated elsewhere. We certainly call on the UK Government to use its reserved powers in employment rights to make sure that people's rights, young people's rights are properly respected in the workforce. And joining a trade union is the single most effective action that a young person can take to make sure that they have the help and the support that they would need, were they to face the sorts of circumstances that Jack Sargeant has outlined this afternoon.