The number of Neets, or young people not in education, employment or training, has increased to nearly 1m, official data has indicated, heightening fears over the long-term health of the UK economy.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has suggested there were 957,000 people aged between 16 and 24 not working as of December in further worrying figures for the government.
In the period between July and September, there were 946,000 Neets by comparison.
ONS analysts suggested data was likely to suffer from “greater volatility” due to smaller samples. ONS labour market division head David Freeman said higher unemployment levels contributed to the rise in Neets.
The last quarter of the year saw a higher jump in the number of female Neets though men still made up more than a half of the total number of people not in work.
The fresh release of data comes as youth unemployment within the age group was revealed to have exceeded 16 per cent, compared to just over five per cent for the general working population.
Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said the high number of Neets was a “concern” and was a feature of a “long-term challenge”.
“The number has been rising since 2022, with the majority of that increase occurring before July last year,” McFadden said.
The Labour government has said its youth guarantee programme and apprenticeship offerings across small businesses would help to tackle the crisis.
Tories say Neets are ‘completely trapped’
The Conservative opposition has meanwhile argued that high student loan burdens and low-value university degrees had blocked incentives for young people to get into the workforce.
Helen Whately, the shadow work secretary, said nearly 1m young people were “completely trapped” as a result of the government’s decisions on tax.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been urged to address the issue at the Spring Statement next week despite the government’s insistence that it will not feature new policies, and rather will simply allow the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to revise its forecasts.
The Resolution Foundation said Neets should be an “exception” to her strategy next Tuesday as economists said the convergence of the minimum wage with the living wage should be paused while Labour’s jobs guarantee should be expanded.
Louise Murphy, a senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, said: “Britain is perilously close to having a million young people not in education, employment or training for the first time in 13 years.
“Today’s data adds to the picture of a generation up against real and complex barriers to finding a good job and improving their living standards. But acting sooner rather than later can help prevent these worrying trends becoming an entrenched crisis.”
