The number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) remained “worryingly high” in the first quarter of this year, with about one in eight people believed to be either unemployed or economically inactive.
Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates released today suggest that the total number of young people aged 16-24 classed as NEET between January and March this year fell to 930,000.
This is a drop of about 0.3 percentage points, or 57,000 young people, to 12.5 per cent compared to the previous quarter.
It is the first time youth NEET estimates have fallen since reaching a peak of 987,000 between October and December last year.
Sarah Yong, director of policy and external affairs at Youth Futures Foundation, said: “The latest ONS data shows the number of young people not earning or learning remains worryingly high for the beginning of 2025.
“Despite a small reduction in the overall number of young people not in employment, education or training, the youth unemployment and inactivity challenge continues to be a stubborn issue for the UK at 12.5 per cent, with approximately one in eight young people affected.”
The ONS said their estimates, which are classed as “official statistics in development”, should be treated with “additional caution” because their Labour Force Survey has seen lower response rates compared to pre-coronavirus pandemic levels.
Alongside the statistics, work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall visited Liverpool to celebrate the start of the government’s “trailblazer” programme to test out ways to prevent young people from falling out of education, employment or training through £5 million grants to eight regions across England and Wales.
Kendall said: “Young people are our future – and yet for too long they have been denied access to the opportunities and support they need.
“We are investing £45 million – including almost £5 million here in Liverpool – to deliver our Youth Guarantee, so every young person across England gets the chance to earn or learn, as we boost living standards and get Britain working under the Plan for Change.
The trailblazer programme was announced last year in the Get Britain Working whitepaper – planned measures include enhanced tracking of young people aged 17-19, paid work experience programmes, and specialist multi-agency support teams.
Within the stats
Today’s ONS statistics show a 1 percentage point decrease in the number of young men classed as NEET, and a 0.3 percentage point increase of young women.
The overall NEET group is split between 354,000 unemployed young people, about two thirds men, and 569,000 “inactive” young people, shared more evenly between men and women.
The statistics body defines unemployment as someone without a job who has been actively seeking work within the last four weeks or is available to start work within two weeks.
Economically inactive is defined as not seeking work or unable to start work within the same respective time frames.
The Youth Futures Foundation, which has access to more detailed ONS NEET data, has found that about one in four young people have been seeking work for over a year, highlightly the “persistent nature” of the challenge.
Yong said: “Among this group, one in five lack any formal qualifications – double the rate seen across the wider youth population.
“Unlike the post-financial crisis period, the recent rise in NEET levels since 2021 has also been driven in part by growing economic inactivity.
“Notably, the latest data reveals that around 52% of economic inactivity over the past three years is due to ill health, with a large proportion relating to mental ill health.”
But Susannah Hardyman, chief executive officer at youth education and employment funding charity Impetus, called the Labour Force Survey a “blunt tool for a sharp problem” that fails to capture combined factors that mean certain groups of young people are at an “acutely high risk” of being NEET.
She added: “Our Youth Jobs Gap research fills this looming data gap, revealing how uncontrollable factors – like socioeconomic background, special educational needs, and location – combine to make certain groups acutely high risk of being NEET.
“For example, a young person from a disadvantaged background growing up with low qualifications and special educational needs in Hartlepool is more likely to be NEET than not – an inexcusable reality”.
For individuals and the economy
Experts warn that failing to reduce youth NEET numbers will have a “long-term scarring effect” both on individual people and the national economy.
Laura-Jane Rawlings, chief executive officer at Youth Employment UK, said: “The cost of inaction or at least slow delivery is far greater than the investment needed to create meaningful pathways for young people.”
Hardyman and Yong called for a greater government effort to target “precise barriers” that hold young people back “based on evidence of what works”.
Yong cited the Netherlands as successfully achieving the lowest NEET rate out of 38 countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
Achieving the Netherlands’ NEET rate of around four per cent would be worth £69 billion to the UK economy and would mean “approximately 500,000 more young people earning or learning”, she claimed.
Bring back EMA , Youth and Community Careers Advisers like Connexions and incentives for businesses to offer Work Experience with a view to guarantee of some type of employment. We need real volunteer projects managed by properly trained and experienced youth workers.
There is in my opinion a lot of expense paying unqualified mentors up to £50 and hour to be mates with young people but not skilled enough to provide SMART targets.
The School system is too outdated and far too many are disengaged and despondent with education or considering the benefits once they leave Yr 11.
Also I witness many young people that are far too comfortable on PIP to consider zero hour or minimum wage as they are comfortable enough to exist quite well.
In my experience the lack of quality careers guidance has held back young people so much. The advice they are given is years out of date for a job market that is incredibly dynamic and fast changing. However, no school can afford real investment in quality coaches or similar programmes in this current climate, so make do with generic CV workshops or advice that don’t truly tackle the problem. It’s not that young people are lazy – they’re just not given the tools to navigate the changing job market properly – so they’re more likely to give up and lack resilience.