Barriers to Employment: What Really Holds Jobseekers Back in 2025

We often hear that the UK has “record job vacancies” or that “the right skills open the right doors.” But if you’ve ever been on the job hunt, or tried to change career, you’ll know it’s rarely that simple.

Barriers to employment take many forms. Some are visible, like childcare responsibilities or a lack of relevant qualifications. Others are harder to pin down, like age bias or the weight of socio-economic background. And while UK law prohibits discrimination based on protected characteristics, the reality is that rejection rarely comes labelled with the real reason.

In this post, we’ll look at some of the most common barriers jobseekers face today, drawing on evidence, policy gaps, and lived experience. We'll also address what steps people can take in the face of these obstacles.

1.  Ageism: The Unspoken Bias

Perhaps the biggest and least openly discussed barrier is age discrimination.

Research shows that older applicants are less likely to be called for interview even when they have comparable skills and experience. In theory, the Equality Act 2010 protects against this. In practice, employers rarely state age as a reason for rejection.  They don’t need to. They can cite “fit,” “team dynamics,” or simply remain silent.

My own research into government skills and training funding reinforced this: at national and local levels, there are schemes targeted at young people, apprentices, and early career changers. But there is almost nothing (and no funding allocation) for people past a certain age, despite this group often needing reskilling most urgently.

Ageism isn’t limited to older workers, either. Younger applicants, particularly those without a degree or with limited work history, can be excluded on the basis of “lack of experience.” But the impact skews heavier on people over 45, who often report feeling invisible in recruitment processes.

Yes, UK law offers protection. Rejection letters seldom cite “age”. They don’t have to. Employers can always frame it differently, or give no explanation at all.

2. Career Breaks

For women returning to work after pregnancy or extended caring responsibilities, barriers can be acute. Research by PwC and others shows that women who take a career break face a “pay penalty” of up to 30% compared with peers who remain continuously employed.

It’s not just about pay,  it’s also about confidence, networks, and employer perceptions. A CV gap is still too often read as a lack of commitment, even though the skills involved in raising a family or managing complex caring arrangements overlap with project management, budgeting, and leadership.

While there are “returnship” programmes in some sectors, they remain patchy and concentrated in industries like finance and tech. Many other fields offer little structured support.

3. Ethnicity, Nationality, and Migration Status

Jobseekers that have come to the UK or from minority ethnic backgrounds within the UK face multiple overlapping barriers.

• Qualification recognition: Skilled migrants often find their qualifications undervalued or unrecognised, forcing them into lower-paid roles.

• Language and networks: Even with strong English skills, not having professional networks in the UK makes access harder.

• Bias: Research continues to show that applicants with “foreign-sounding” names receive fewer callbacks than those with Anglo-sounding names, despite identical CVs.

For refugees or those with uncertain immigration status, the challenges multiply, often intersecting with poverty and limited access to training.

 

4. Socio-Economic Background

This one of the most persistent and under-acknowledged  barriers.

Quotas and diversity targets often focus on visible characteristics like gender or ethnicity. These are important, but they don’t account for whether someone grew up with financial stability, access to higher education, or family connections in professional fields.

Diversity quotas generally don't check what kind of background someone has when it comes to life-advantage. In reality, someone who DOES fit a quota, may have actually had much easier journey than a working-class or modestly brought-up individual. Yet the latter faces hurdles every step of the way: fewer role models, contacts, less financial buffer during job searches, and limited access to unpaid internships.

Without addressing socio-economic disadvantage, other diversity initiatives risk reinforcing privilege rather than dismantling it.

5. Health and Disability

Health is another overlooked barrier in policy discussions.

Around 23% of working-age adults in the UK live with a disability or long-term health condition. While legislation requires reasonable adjustments, implementation is inconsistent.

• Remote or hybrid working has opened some doors, but not all roles can be adapted.

• Applicants often fear disclosing health conditions for fear of being screened out.

• Many recruitment processes, such as timed tests, panel interviews, high-pressure assessments are not designed with accessibility in mind.

  
  

6. Structural Issues: Feedback and Transparency

Even where discrimination laws exist, the lack of meaningful feedback after interviews or applications creates a grey area. Most candidates hear nothing more than “we went with someone else.”

What can help

Before addressing what you can do, it's important to stress that there there are a number of changes that employers could make to create a fairer opportunity for capable people who may feel be feeling invisible during the recruitment progress, or struggling with barriers that are not obvious.

• Employers standardising structured feedback, even short, could reduce the space for hidden bias.

• Support programmes: There could be more “returnship” models across industries, not just in elite sectors.

• Recognition: Valuing transferable skills gained outside of formal work in caring, volunteering, or community projects.

• Practical bridges: This is where community-driven initiatives can make a difference. ELE Hub, for example, creates environments where capable people can practice and develop skills on real projects. That experience not only builds confidence but also provides credible evidence of ability - something traditional hiring pathways often block.

What you can do

While many of these barriers are structural, there are still ways to take back some control in your job search:

• Reframe your experience: Even if it doesn’t look traditional, name the skills you’ve built through caring, volunteering, or side projects. Employers may not ask - but you can show it.

• Practice the process: Interviews and applications are games with rules. The more you practice answering questions, tailoring your CV, or presenting examples, the less those rules work against you.

• Seek tailored support: You don’t have to figure this out alone. Communities like ELE Hub provide a safe space to rehearse interviews, build evidence through real projects, and gain feedback you rarely get from employers.

• Build visibility: Share small wins - a project you contributed to, a skill you developed, a reflection you wrote. Even without a formal role, you can show that you’re learning and engaged.

Final Thought

Barriers to employment are real, but they don’t have to be the end of the story. With practice, support, and a space to experiment, you can find ways to navigate around them.

That’s why ELE Hub exists: to give talented jobseekers a chance to build confidence, evidence, and momentum, even when the system feels stacked against you.

 At ELE Hub, we’re working to close these gaps. Through our dedicated Skills Hub, and one to one support, we help build the confidence and evidence they need to move forward.

If you’re feeling blocked by some of the barriers described here, you don’t have to tackle them alone https://www.ele-hub.org/job-search-support-1