Labour unveils AI bootcamps to protect young workers

TL;DR:

  • The government has launched a £20m Early Careers Jobs Alliance with employers and unions to redesign entry-level roles exposed to AI.
  • AI bootcamps will pilot in the North West this summer, with TechFirst training reaching 400,000 pupils in disadvantaged schools.
  • Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the choice is “shaping AI to work for us or being left at its mercy”.

Ahead of London Tech Week and the first AI Adoption Summit, the government has set out a package aimed at stopping young people being squeezed out of work as AI reshapes entry-level jobs. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall framed it as a distinctly Labour approach: “pro-business and pro-worker”, helping people through the transition rather than leaving them “to cope on their own”.

A skills package under pressure

At its centre is the Early Careers Jobs Alliance, backed by £20m and co-chaired with the Prospect union, which will map how entry-level work is changing and help firms redesign roles without closing off career ladders. It starts in the digital and technologies sector before extending across the eight Industrial Strategy sectors. A new AI bootcamp scheme will pilot this summer across Lancashire and Greater Manchester, guaranteeing a paid apprenticeship to those who complete it, with employers including JD Sports and BAE Systems. Through the TechFirst programme, 400,000 pupils in the most disadvantaged schools will get AI and tech training.

The backdrop is sobering. The number of young people not in education, employment or training has passed a million for the first time in a decade, and the IMF’s Kristalina Georgieva has warned AI could be a “tsunami hitting the labour market”. Kendall played down mass losses — “jobs will be created, jobs will change, and some jobs will go” — but the union welcome came with a warning about a “short window” to get the response right.

Looking forward

The ambition outpaces the initial scale: the first bootcamp pilots offer only 60 and 20 places. Whether this becomes a genuine national safety net or a pilot that never scales will define its credibility. It also lands amid related pressure — from employers stepping in where schools lag on AI skills to warnings that AI could strain the welfare state. For UK businesses, the alliance signals a coming expectation to preserve entry-level pathways, not just chase efficiency.

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