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Kentucky-themed fried fast food chain KFC has announced a scheme which it says will create 6,000 new jobs for disadvantaged young people in the United Kingdom.

KFC is hoping that 1 in 3 of all new UK recruits will be sourced from the disadvantaged youth of the UK before the year 2030.

The company has teamed up with the charity UK Youth to attract more of the disadvantaged 16-24 year old demographic to its ranks.

The initiative aims to get more young people with domestic, economic, mental health and social issues.trained up and into the workplace.

The partnership of KFC and UK Youth is promoting the new scheme as the ‘Hatch’ programme and says it is an ‘investment in the future of their businesses.’

The Hatch initiative was trialled with dozens of young people in Manchester and 1 in 2 of the participants went on into full time employment upon completion of the programme.

KFC says it will take on 500 more young people through the Hatch scheme nationwide next year and a further 5,500 in the following seven years.

If the forecasted ratios for 2030 were already in place then KFC’s current UK workforce of around 27,000 staff would be made up of close to 9,000 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Launching the wider rollout of the Hatch scheme, KFC’s general manager for the UK and Ireland, Meghan Farren, said:

“If we are to tackle the labour shortage and provide better jobs and economic growth across the country for the next generation then we urgently need to help young people who have been excluded from education and training opportunities to find their feet and their voice in the workplace.”

Speaking to the BBC, a chief economist at KPMG, Yael Selfin, also commented, saying that the initiative by the fast food chain was welcome but that more still needed to be done to help disadvantaged youth in the UK.

“It's great to see companies thinking of ways to bring young people from disadvantaged backgrounds into the workplace, but what would be even better is a scheme to keep them there and to help them progress and become more senior,” said the economist.

“We're likely to continue having a tight labour market for some time, so thinking about this will also help companies position themselves for the future.”

“Will KFC also be thinking about how to give these people opportunities to progress, and to get promoted? That's what we really need to see,” added Ms Selfin.