{"podcast":{"title":"Big Boss Interview","slug":"big-boss-interview-316999","podcast_index_feed_id":316999,"rss_url":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p016tl04.rss","website_url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p016tl04","image_url":"http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/images/ic/3000x3000/p0m4j7fr.jpg","author":"BBC","episode_count":266,"summary":"Big Boss Interview is where the most high-profile chief executives and entrepreneurs come to give you their insights and experiences of running the world's biggest and well-known businesses. The series is presented by Sean Farrington, Felicity Hannah and Will Bain, who you'd normally hear presenting the business news on BBC Radio 4's Today programme as well as BBC 5 Live's Wake Up To Money. Each week they'll be finding out just what it takes to run a huge organisation and what the day to day challenges and opportunities are. You can get in contact with the team by emailing bigboss@bbc.co.uk","last_synced_at":"2026-07-16T10:20:46.494996+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/big-boss-interview-316999"},"episode":{"title":"#40 Next CEO: The Crisis Facing Entry-Level Employment","slug":"40-next-ceo-the-crisis-facing-entry-level-employment","published_at":"2026-05-25T23:01:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/big-boss-interview-316999/40-next-ceo-the-crisis-facing-entry-level-employment","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/big-boss-interview-316999","url":"http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0nmtnxn","audio_url":"http://open.live.bbc.co.uk/mediaselector/6/redir/version/2.0/mediaset/audio-nondrm-download-rss-low/proto/http/vpid/p0nms0sh.mp3","summary":"Lord Wolfson, Chief Executive of Next and a Conservative peer, warns Britain is facing a crisis in entry-level employment. Applicants for every shop vacancy at Next have almost doubled from 10 to 19 in just two years — a trend he describes as “indicative of just how big the crisis is in youth unemployment.” Across retail and the wider economy, he says there has been “a dramatic fall in entry-level employment opportunities” as rising National Insurance and National Living Wage costs push up the cost of hiring younger and less experienced workers. UK youth unemployment has now reached 15%. The crisis, he argues, will deepen under the Employment Rights Bill. Restrictions on flexible part-time working mean retailers risk being locked into permanent contracts when offering extra hours at Christmas or during university holidays. The result, Lord Wolfson says, will be fewer opportunities for students and reduced service for customers — consequences, he says, the government never intended. The legislation was “cobbled together very quickly”, he argues, reflecting a broader problem in British politics: governments arriving in office with slogans rather than detailed plans. “Becoming prime minister is not an achievement. Being a great prime minister, that’s an achievement.” Lord Wolfson also makes the case that Britain’s planning system is the single biggest drag on economic growth. He says an acre of agricultural land worth around £15,000 rises to £1.5 million once planning permission is granted — wealth he argues is being extracted from the economy rather than invested in better homes and infrastructure. His solution is to replace the planning system with principle-based building regulation, allowing development provided it does not damage neighbouring property values or overl…","meta_description":"Lord Wolfson, Chief Executive of Next and a Conservative peer, warns Britain is facing a crisis in entry-level employment. Applicants for every shop vacan…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":1774,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/big-boss-interview-316999/episodes/40-next-ceo-the-crisis-facing-entry-level-employment/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/big-boss-interview-316999/40-next-ceo-the-crisis-facing-entry-level-employment.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}