August is results month, with the focus of the education world squarely on academic achievement (and on defending the hard work of students and staff from those who see only bad news in rising results). Pushed to the back by all the fuss, but undoubtedly there, is the clear message that getting good results is good news, and not getting them is bad. Everyone agrees that the prospects for people without qualifications are dire and that we’re running out of low-skilled jobs.

But we exaggerate don’t we? And if we exaggerate, we mislead.

I work in the evidence business, so let’s consider the evidence in front of me as I walk to work through Ealing Broadway every morning. The first workers I see are bus drivers - semi-skilled workers to be sure, but driving is a job with a modest training period that people with no other qualifications can quite quickly pick up.

There are shop staff in the supermarkets. Then the window cleaner who seems to clean all the shop windows in Ealing. Then other cleaners, inside shops and pubs; and within the shopping centre I see delivery drivers, baristas and security guards. Beyond them, unseen, are receptionists in places that open early, like the college and the several gyms in town.

All of these jobs, or jobs very much like them, will still be around in 10 years won’t they? And probably in 50 years.

And all of them are jobs that someone could get if they’d left school at the first opportunity with no qualifications to their name (so long, of course, they show willing and can relate to other people in some way).

So, if we’re being straight with young people, we ought to be clear that for the foreseeable future there will be jobs around that they can get without qualifications. Then we can tell them, with rather more credibility, about the pay and prospects associated with those jobs.

That’s the real issue, isn’t it: not that there are no jobs for the unskilled, but finding a way out once you’re in them. That’s why “second chance” training courses are so important.