The Commons: Britain’s NEET Crisis and the Decline of Opportunity for Young People

Jul 3

Concerns over youth unemployment and economic inactivity have intensified over the findings of Alan Milburn’s report on NEET’s, which argues that too many people are reaching adulthood “to find the door closed”. New data released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) reports that 957,000 people, aged 16 to 24, in the UK were not employed, seeking higher education, or in training between October and December 2025, classifying them as ‘NEET’. The report points to wider structural problems within society that limit young people’s access to stable employment, including a decline into entry-level opportunities and growing economic instability.

As concerns grow over limited pathways into work, the debate has grown beyond short-term employment figures and into broader speculation over Britain’s labor market and education systems. Is Britain's political and economic system creating a generation increasingly excluded from work, or are current government policies sufficient to reverse the trend?

The Scale of the Crisis

ONS Reports show that this is not an isolated figure, but part of a wider trend that is seriously affecting young people across Britain. This was seen between January and March 2026, where there was roughly over 1 million young people, aged 16 to 24, in the UK who were NEET. This number appeared to increase by 89,000 from January to March 2025, and increased by a further 55,000 from October to December 2025. While unemployment remains a high concern for the government, a growing proportion of young people are becoming economically inactive altogether. This means that they are neither working nor seeking active employment or studies.

Alan Milburn's report argues that declining access to entry-level jobs has made it increasingly difficult for young people to establish themselves in a specialized sector or career. Sectors that traditionally provided first employment opportunities, such as hospitality, now often require past experience or specialist skills. Because of this, many young people find it difficult to obtain positions because they lack experience, yet they cannot get experience without first obtaining a job. The trend of unemployment has prompted concerns from the Government, youths, and the general public, who claim that this issue extends further from unemployment and argues that this is a societal, structural problem with the market's infrastructure. This includes the rising cost of living and changes in the labor market which make the transition from education to secure employment increasingly difficult.

Why Are Young People Struggling?

While the current NEET figures reflect individual youth struggles, this could signify a structural problem within Britain that makes it increasingly difficult for young people to get into traditional, entry level employment.

The decline is approaching the scale seen during the 2008 Financial Crisis and the COVID-19 Crisis

One key worrying statistic has been evaluated by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), which shows an Administrative data point to a fall in youth labor market participation in recent years. The findings highlight in the three years leading up to December 2025, the share of 16- to 24-year-olds in payrolled employment fell by 4.3 percentage points, from 54.9% to 50.6%. This data shows a clear approach to the 5.4 percentage point fall in youth employment that was occurring during the 2008 financial crisis and the 6.5 percentage fall during the COVID-19 Pandemic. This data highlights the severity of this crisis and the decline of opportunity for young people.

The 4.3 percentage point decline equates to approximately 330,000 fewer young people in payrolled employment than three years earlier, illustrating the scale of the labor market shift facing Britain's younger generation. (Data from IFS ‘Why has the NEET rate risen? Understanding trends and drivers using administrative data’)

The comparison suggests that the current market presents challenges for young people on a scale comparable to two of the most disruptive economic periods in British history. However, unlike these crises, the current NEET data has occurred without a singular economic shock or event. The IFS and Alan Milburn’s report argues that this increase is due to a number of factors including:

Fewer retail and hospitality jobs than in previous decades.
Employers increasingly ask for previous experience.
Growth in temporary and insecure work.
Businesses are becoming more cautious about hiring young workers.

This has intensified debates on whether the Government is correcting the infrastructure for the NEET crisis, and whether they are adequately supporting them after education.

What is the Government Doing?

The publication of Alan Milburn’s report has placed increasing pressure on the Government to issue a statement and address concerns of economic inactivity and rising NEET rates. Responding to these findings, former Prime Minister, Keir Starmer described the report as “sobering” stating that he will “not allow a lost generation” with claims the Government “clearly needs to do more”.

Ministers argue that expanded skills and experience is central to tackling the NEET crisis. Through the government’s Youth Guarantee, ministers aim to ensure that every young person has the opportunity to gain experience, education and training.

Economic experts argue that this has to be accompanied with a change in infrastructure, including stronger labor market conditions. Suren Thiru, Chief Economist at the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, warned that:

“These figures signal a growing distress within the UK’s labor market as soaring labor costs and the fallout from the Iran war drive more businesses to reduce recruitment and limit pay awards. The continued fall in job vacancies is a worrying sign of the strength of the labor market as it suggests that demand for staff is deteriorating quickly amid global headwinds and the growing financial squeeze on firms.”

The Government has responded to these worrying claims and has accelerated its Youth Guarantee, creating more than 300,000 new work placements for young people to gain experience in social work, construction, and hospitality. The new placements, part of a £2.5 billion youth employment support package, will see young people gain hands-on experience, build real skills and move into sustained work.

However, questions remain on whether the acceleration of the Government's Youth Guarantee will be enough with the scale of the problem of youth unemployment. While the Youth Guarantee is a major step in tackling NEET rates, critics are skeptical that without addressing infrastructure problems within the decline in entry level jobs and the increased economic inactivity in adults. As a result, the debate has shifted from whether support exists to whether current government policy is capable of reversing what many see as a growing generational employment crisis.

Is the Government Treating The Symptoms Rather Than The Causes?

Although the Government maintains that expanding skill programs, such as the Youth Guarantee, will help the rate of NEETs, critics argue that this focuses on the consequences of the infrastructure rather than addressing the underlying causes. Although the Government initiatives improve young people's access to training and work placements, it does not allow young people to access entry-level jobs or address the causes of their decline.

According to research by Adzuna, the number of job vacancies declining by 32 percent since 2022 has created significant barriers for young people hoping to get into stable employment and enter the labor market. With fewer opportunities for entry-level jobs available, competition for jobs has intensified, leaving many school leavers and graduates struggling to gain the experience employers increasingly demand. This creates a vicious cycle of young people needing workplace experience before employment, whilst having very limited opportunities to gain this.

Combined with the cost of living crisis and rising housing costs, many young people face obstacles which prevent them further with a lack of qualifications and skills. These problems mean that young people cannot be provided with a pathway whilst juggling a lack of opportunities. These economic pressures suggest that the challenge extends beyond education and skills alone, raising broader questions about the affordability and accessibility of work for younger generations.

Critics argue that reversing the rise of NEET rates will require more than initiatives. They suggest that long-term solutions must be created through job creation, encouraging businesses to hire more young people, and to address wider issues that continue to limit opportunities for young people.

Isabel Longman