As nearly one million young people in the UK sit outside education and employment, JD Sports is doubling down on a careers platform that began as a local Manchester initiative and is now expanding into the United States.
JD Sports brought 10,000 students from more than seventy Greater Manchester schools to its biggest-ever JD UP careers event today and tomorrow (Feb 24–25, 2026), as UK youth unemployment climbs to its highest level in a decade — with the group now preparing to launch the program in the United States.
The two-day event, held at the Manchester Central Convention Complex opens 28 departments to attendees and showcases career pathways spanning retail operations, law, finance, technology, and logistics. The scale of this year’s edition represents a significant expansion from the 2025 Manchester event, which drew around 6,000 students, and is the largest JD UP to date.
The ambition of the program is matched by the urgency of the backdrop: youth unemployment in the UK recently reached 16.1%, a 10-year high, while the number of so-called NEETs (young people aged 16–24 not in education, employment, or training) stood at 946,000 between July and September 2025, according to the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS).
From local experiment to international program
JD UP launched in 2020 under the JD Foundation as a single Manchester event that drew around 2,000 young people from 15 local schools. The programme expanded to London in late 2024, where 3,200 students attended a two-day edition. A Madrid edition followed, and a US debut is now in the pipeline.
Since launching, JD UP events have recorded high conversion intent: close to 60% of attending students have expressed interest in pursuing a career at JD, according to company figures. The JD Foundation has supported over 17,500 young people across the UK and Spain to date.
This year’s Manchester event includes expanded AI and technology programming, with computing education charity Raspberry Pi among the supporting partners — a move that speaks to both the interests of the target demographic and JD’s broader push into digital retail and data-driven operations. Nearly 1,000 JD employees are participating as representatives across the two days.
The business rationale of a community investment
JD Sports is not unusual among large sportswear retailers in running youth outreach programs, but the scale and consistency of JD UP sets it apart from one-off sponsorship or donation-based models. With more than 60% of JD’s global workforce under 25 and 87% under 35, the company has a structural interest in maintaining a pipeline of entry-level talent familiar with the brand and motivated by its culture.
The JD Foundation also announced a partnership with Whysup, a mental health and resilience charity, to deliver tailored programs in 10 schools — an acknowledgment that employment readiness is as much about psychological confidence as vocational skills.
