Next CEO Warns Entry Level Jobs Are Disappearing Fast in 2026

Lord Simon Wolfson, the chief executive of British retailer Next, has warned of a "dramatic fall in entry-level opportunities," telling the BBC that the number of applicants for shop-floor roles has nearly doubled in just two years. He pins much of the blame on rising employment costs, including a National Insurance rate hike and minimum wage increases, which he calls a tax on entry-level work. It matters because the first rung of the career ladder is getting harder to reach everywhere, not just in the UK. At Metaintro, we track these shifts so early-career job seekers can see what is changing and move before the market does.

What exactly did the Next boss warn about?

Wolfson, who has run Next for more than two decades, told the BBC that hiring at the entry level is being hit harder than any other part of the workforce. The clearest signal sits in his own applicant data. Two years ago, Next received roughly 10 applications for every shop-floor vacancy. Today that figure is closer to 19, a near-doubling of competition for the same starter roles. When 19 people chase one job that once drew 10, the people with the least experience are usually the first to be edged out, because employers can afford to hold out for candidates who already have a track record.

His phrase, "you can really see a dramatic fall in entry-level opportunities," lands hard because it comes from one of the largest private-sector employers in UK retail. This is not a forecast from an economist. It is a hiring manager describing what is already happening on the ground, and it echoes a pattern we have covered in the broken career ladder facing young UK workers. What makes the warning unusual is the source. Next is a profitable, well-run business, not a struggling chain looking for excuses. When a company of that scale says it is pulling back on junior hiring, it signals a structural change rather than a one-off cost-cutting drive, and that is exactly why the comments drew national attention.

It is worth being precise about what an entry-level role actually is in this context. These are the shop-floor, stockroom, and customer-facing jobs that have traditionally given school leavers, students, and career changers their first paid experience. They teach the soft skills that no classroom can, including showing up on time, handling difficult customers, and working as part of a team. When those jobs thin out, the entire on-ramp to the workforce narrows, and the people who lose access are precisely the ones who most need a foot in the door.

Who is Next and why does its warning carry weight?

Next is one of the largest clothing and homeware retailers in the UK, with hundreds of stores and a major online business, so it sits close to the everyday job market for young people in a way few employers do. Its shops are exactly the kind of place a 17-year-old looks for a first Saturday job or a student picks up holiday hours, which makes its hiring patterns a useful barometer for entry-level demand across the whole high street. When a retailer of that footprint reports applications nearly doubling per vacancy, it is effectively measuring how much harder the bottom of the labour market has become.

The company is also profitable and respected for its operational discipline, so its leadership is not in the habit of crying wolf about costs. That credibility is part of why the warning resonated. Wolfson is describing a problem he is watching unfold inside his own business in real time, with real applicant numbers attached, rather than reacting to a single quarter of weak figures. For young job seekers, the takeaway is that the squeeze is real and measurable, and the sooner you adjust your approach, the better your odds in a market that is unlikely to loosen quickly.

Why are entry-level jobs disappearing first?

Wolfson points squarely at the cost of employing junior staff. He argues that last year's National Insurance rate increase and successive rises in the national minimum wage have pushed up the price of labour at exactly the level where margins are thinnest. When a business has to absorb a higher cost for every worker, the roles that produce the least immediate value, often the training-heavy starter jobs, are the easiest to cut or simply not refill. He has called this a tax on entry-level employment and argued that it has to be reversed if young people are going to find work.

There is a second force underneath the cost story, and it is automation. As companies invest in self-checkout, scheduling software, and increasingly AI tools, the routine tasks that once made up a first job get absorbed by machines. We have unpacked exactly how AI has raised the productivity bar for new hires, and the effect is brutal at entry level. If a machine handles the basic work, employers feel less need to pay someone to learn it. That dynamic is also reshaping which degree requirements companies are scrapping as they rethink what a starter role even looks like.

There is also a third pressure that gets less attention, which is new regulation around working hours. Wolfson singled out rules restricting flexible part-time work, warning that they would push employers to offer fewer hours rather than more, especially during peak trading periods like Christmas when retailers traditionally take on extra seasonal staff. Those seasonal and part-time shifts have long been the easiest way for a teenager or student to earn a first payslip. If they shrink, one of the most accessible entry points into the workforce shrinks with them.

How bad is the youth job market right now?

The numbers behind Wolfson's warning are stark. In the first three months of 2026, nearly one in six young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK were out of work, the highest level since 2015. That is not a blip. It is a structural squeeze on the generation trying to get its first foothold, and it tracks with what we covered in Gen Z confidence cracking in the entry-level market. A decade-high youth unemployment rate is the kind of figure that tends to harden into a lasting problem, because the longer a young person stays out of work, the harder it becomes to land that crucial first role.

The wider data tells the same story. Official figures from the Office for National Statistics show UK job vacancies fell by around 54,000 in the February-to-April 2026 window, a drop of roughly 7 percent year on year, with about 2.5 unemployed people for every open role. We have also reported how UK vacancies hit a five-year low of 711,000. Fewer openings plus more applicants is the exact arithmetic that crushes first-time job seekers, and it is showing up in the data on the worst teen summer hiring on record.

Economists worry about this combination for a specific reason. A first job is not just a paycheck. It is the moment a young worker starts building the experience, references, and confidence that unlock every job after it. When that first step is delayed by months or even years, research consistently finds it can drag on a person's earnings and progression for a long time afterward. A weak entry-level market today is therefore not only a problem for the class of 2026. It is a problem that follows that cohort through the rest of their working lives.

Is this only happening in UK retail?

No, and that is the part early-career workers everywhere need to hear. Next is a UK retailer, but the forces Wolfson describes are global. Across markets, employers are pushing more first-job tasks onto software, holding headcount flat, and demanding that even junior hires arrive productive on day one. We documented how AI is wiping out entry-level jobs and the seven moves that beat it, and the pattern crosses borders and sectors. The specific trigger may differ from country to country, but the outcome is strikingly similar wherever you look.

It is not limited to shops, either. Even in fields that are recovering overall, the bottom rung is thin. We found that tech job postings rebounded in 2026 while entry-level openings shrank, which mirrors retail almost exactly. The cost pressure may be sharpest in the UK because of specific tax changes, but the underlying squeeze, more applicants chasing fewer junior roles, is the new normal for anyone starting out. White-collar graduates and shop-floor school leavers are feeling versions of the same pinch, which is a sign that this is an economy-wide shift rather than a single industry having a bad year.

That broad reach is also why the usual advice to just apply somewhere else often falls flat. If junior roles are thinning across retail, tech, and professional services at the same time, switching sectors is not the easy escape hatch it once was. The smarter response is to understand the underlying pattern and position yourself against it, rather than assuming the next industry over has plenty of open doors.

What does this mean for your job search?

If you are competing in a market where 19 people apply for one role, volume alone will not save you. The old approach of firing off identical applications is dead, as we argued in why the old entry-level playbook no longer works for new grads. The candidates who win now show, not tell. They arrive with a portfolio, a project, or a demonstrable skill that proves they can contribute before they have been trained, which is exactly the kind of evidence that cuts through a stack of nearly identical CVs.

Start by narrowing your target rather than widening it. A tighter list of employers, researched properly and approached with a tailored case for why you fit, beats a hundred generic submissions in a market this crowded. Build proof of the productivity employers now demand, whether that is a certification, a freelance gig, or a side project that maps directly to the role you want. If you have a degree but keep getting filtered out, read why recent grads are landing as overqualified for entry-level roles, because the mismatch is often about positioning, not credentials.

Lean into the tools that are reshaping the market instead of pretending they do not exist, and study the wider entry-level AI squeeze playbook for concrete tactics. The same AI that is absorbing routine tasks can also make you visibly more capable, so a junior candidate who can show they use these tools well is more valuable, not less. Pair that with the durable human skills employers still struggle to automate, including communication, reliability, and judgment under pressure, and you become the kind of hire a manager will fight to bring on even in a tight year.

Finally, watch the policy backdrop, since the same UK jobs tax and National Insurance changes that Wolfson is fighting will shape how many starter roles even exist in the months ahead. Knowing where hiring is opening up, and where it is freezing, lets you spend your energy where it can actually land an offer. The market is tight, but it is not closed, and a sharper, better-informed strategy moves you to the front of a long line rather than leaving you lost in the middle of it.

Related Articles

• UK Youth Unemployment Is a Broken Ladder, Not a Lazy Generation
• Teen Summer Hiring 2026 Is the Worst on Record
• UK Job Vacancies Hit a Five-Year Low of 711,000
• The 2026 Entry-Level Squeeze and the AI Productivity Bar
• Gen Z Confidence Meets the 2026 Entry-Level Job Market
• The Old Entry-Level Playbook Is Dead for New Grads
• Tech Jobs Rebound in 2026 but Entry-Level Shrinks
• AI Is Wiping Out Entry-Level Jobs and Seven Moves That Beat It
• The Entry-Level AI Squeeze 2026 Playbook
• Recent Grads Are Overqualified for Entry-Level Roles
• UK Graduate Hiring and the National Insurance Jobs Tax
• Companies Scrapping Degree Requirements for Entry-Level Hiring

People Also Asked

Q: Which Next executive warned about entry-level jobs disappearing?

A: Lord Simon Wolfson, the chief executive of UK retailer Next, gave the warning. He told the BBC there has been a dramatic fall in entry-level opportunities, noting that applicants for shop-floor roles at Next have nearly doubled from about 10 per vacancy two years ago to roughly 19 today.

Q: Why does the Next boss say entry-level jobs are disappearing?

A: Wolfson blames rising employment costs, which he describes as a tax on entry-level work. He points specifically at a National Insurance rate hike and increases to the national minimum wage, alongside slower economic growth and growing automation, all of which make junior roles more expensive to fund and easier to cut.

Q: How high is youth unemployment in 2026?

A: In the first three months of 2026, nearly one in six young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK were out of work, the highest level since 2015. Official ONS figures also show vacancies falling by around 54,000 over the February-to-April window, leaving roughly 2.5 unemployed people for every open role.

Ready to find your next opportunity in a tighter market? Metaintro uses AI to surface roles that match your skills and shows you where the real openings are, so you spend less time competing blind and more time applying with a plan. Create your free profile and put a smarter strategy to work today.