![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/201270-1.jpg\")
\n Picture credit: Manx Radio<\/p>\n
\n Picture credit: Manx Radio<\/p>\n
\n Business leaders and politicians say current restrictions are limiting opportunities for young people\n <\/p>\n
The Isle of Man Chamber of Commerce has welcomed a motion calling for reform of the Island\u2019s young person employment regulations, describing the current framework as \u201coverly restrictive\u201d and urging Tynwald to support change.<\/p>\n
In a statement issued ahead of this week\u2019s sitting, the Chamber said it hoped the proposed changes to the Employment of Children (No.2) Regulations 2018 would act as a springboard for a broader review aimed at enabling greater flexibility for employers and more meaningful work opportunities for young people.<\/p>\n
According to the Chamber, many businesses are deterred from offering part-time or seasonal roles to teenagers due to complexity and uncertainty surrounding what is and isn\u2019t permitted.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This, they argue, results in lost opportunities for both employers and young people – particularly those whose education and development were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic:<\/p>\n
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\nCoC Employment – Web.mp3
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Glenfaba and Peel MHK Kate Lord-Brennan, who brought the motion forward, told Tynwald that the current system was \u201ctoo prescriptive\u201d and risked \u201cdoing young people a disservice\u201d.<\/p>\n
She highlighted a decline in school-based work experience and expressed concern about rising levels of screen time among teenagers, suggesting that safe employment opportunities could help re-engage young people and equip them with valuable life skills:<\/p>\n
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\nKLB Employment – Web.mp3
\n<\/b>MLC Dawn Kinnish echoed these concerns, referencing frustration from employers and drawing attention to what she described as \u201calmost addictive\u201d levels of social media use and gaming among young people:<\/p>\n
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\nKINNISH Employment – Web.mp3
\n<\/b>Education Minister Daphne Caine acknowledged the value of paid work experience and agreed the regulations needed review.\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, she cautioned against rushing reforms, noting that the current rules are designed to safeguard education and set boundaries around employment.<\/p>\n
She confirmed the Department\u2019s intention to introduce revised regulations by the end of 2025, with implementation planned for April 2026 to allow time for employers to prepare.<\/p>\n
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\nCAINE Employment – Web.mp3
\n<\/b>Tynwald supported the government amendment to delay implementation.<\/p>\n
The Chamber of Commerce says it will continue advocating for modernised regulations that support both young people and employers, and called for a wider dialogue on skills development, including the impact of AI and technological change on the future workforce.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Picture credit: Manx Radio Business leaders and politicians say current restrictions are limiting opportunities for young people The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":196647,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3092],"tags":[51,77,9458,7910,897,28157,42452,269,12,6226,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-196646","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-jobs","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-fun","11":"tag-isle-of-man","12":"tag-jobs","13":"tag-manx","14":"tag-manx-news","15":"tag-music","16":"tag-news","17":"tag-presenters","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114709042975752108","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196646","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=196646"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/196646\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/196647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=196646"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=196646"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=196646"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}