Nearly a million young Britons out of work or education, ONS says
Just under a million young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training, according to new figures published ahead of a major report that warns of a “lost generation”.
The Office for National Statistics estimates that 981,000 people aged 16 to 24 were Neet, as the group is known, between April and June. That is roughly one in eight people in that age range.
The number has fallen from the first three months of the year, when it stood at more than one million, or 13.5 per cent of the age group. But it is up 3 per cent on the same period last year, when it was 951,000, and the rise was driven almost entirely by young men, with an extra 25,000 of them Neet compared with 4,000 young women.
The final instalment of a report by former minister Alan Milburn, commissioned by the government, is expected in the coming weeks. The first part, published in May, said the reasons for rising rates among men were complex, pointing to more health issues, the erosion of traditional employment routes and a growing gap in educational outcomes.
It warned that one in six young people would be out of work in five years without action. “We are at risk of a lost generation,” it said, noting that young jobseekers were submitting dozens, sometimes hundreds of applications, with rejection becoming the norm.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the labour market was “in a robust position” but acknowledged “a long-term challenge for young people”. He told the BBC the government would “take those recommendations forward”, with proposals and legislation if necessary.
Ministers are already rolling out a Jobs Guarantee scheme, which over three years aims to support 90,000 young people who have been claiming Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months, funding 25 hours of paid work a week for half a year. There are also plans for 300,000 more work experience placements, 50,000 more youth apprenticeship starts, and £3,000 hiring incentives for employers who take on young people who have been out of work for six months.
The politics of the numbers is heating up. Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately blamed increased taxes, including employer National Insurance contributions, for destroying job opportunities for young people. For the Liberal Democrats, Munira Wilson called the scale of the problem a “generational betrayal”.
Behind the statistics are people like Asia Mason, 22, from London, who applied for more than 30 jobs after leaving college before securing her first NHS role through a social care programme run by The King’s Trust. “How am I supposed to get experience if nobody is willing to give me the opportunity to gain it?” she said.
The full story, including the experiences of other young jobseekers, was reported by the BBC at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c93epy2yev0o.