The recent rise in young people not in education, employment or training – Neets – has been driven by a record number who are classed as economically inactive.
Andy Burnham has announced a major shake-up to England’s education system in a bid to tackle youth unemployment and continue the government’s devolution drive.
The new prime minister will tell schools across the country to adapt their curriculum to fit the needs of local business through new “prestigious” technical education routes.
Mr Burnham said: “For too long in this country, students have been told that you must take the academic path to do well and to be respected.
“The whole school system has been built around it and that has let down young people seeking technical qualifications.”
Here we look at the latest Neet data and how the figures have changed over time, along with some of the long-term factors that are likely to have affected levels of youth unemployment.
Latest figures
An estimated 1.01 million 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK were neither working nor learning in January-March this year, according to the latest available data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is up 6 per cent from 957,000 in the previous three months.
It is the highest estimate for Neets since October-December 2013, when the figure stood 1.04 million.
The 1.01 million people classed as Neet in the latest figures is the equivalent of 13.5 per cent of all 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK, or nearly one in seven.
Long-term trends
ONS data for Neets begins in 2001 and shows the total peaked at 1.25 million in July-September 2011, or around one in six (16.9 per cent) of all 16-24 year-olds.
This peak came in the aftermath of the 2008-09 financial crash and recession.
After 2011 the number started to fall, returning to pre-recession levels by 2014 and reaching 750,000 in October-December 2019.
This decline came to a halt in 2020 and 2021 during the Covid-19 pandemic, when the number of Neets fluctuated around 700,000 to 800,000 and showed no clear trend up or down.
The figure then started to climb steadily in early 2022, coinciding with the end of the pandemic and the start of the cost-of-living crisis and a sharp rise in inflation.
This rise began during the previous Conservative government and has continued under the current Labour government.
In October-December 2019, just before the pandemic, the proportion of 16-24 year-olds classed as Neet stood at 10.7 per cent, or nearly one in nine.
It had reached around one in eight (12.9 per cent) by January-March 2024 and stood at nearly one in seven (13.5 per cent) in January-March 2026.
Types of Neets
Of the estimated 1.01 million young people not in education, employment or training in January to March 2026, 613,000 (61 per cent) were classed as economically inactive while 400,000 (39 per cent) were unemployed.
This is the highest number of economically inactive Neets since data began in 2001.
People are classed as economically inactive if they are of working age and not in employment, but not currently looking for work.
It is different from being unemployed, which refers to people with no job but who are actively seeking work.
Reasons for being economically inactive include full-time study, sickness (either temporary or long-term) and looking after family members such as children.
The number of economically inactive Neets jumped by 66,000 between October-December 2025 and January-March 2026, while the number who were unemployed fell by 11,000.
Gender
The rise in the number of economically inactive Neets in the latest figures was driven mostly by an increase in males.
Young men aged 16-24 accounted for 53,000 of the rise of 66,000 in the latest figures, while young women accounted for only 13,000.
Looking at the overall number of Neets, there is currently a greater number of males (55 per cent of the total) than females (45 per cent).
Historically more women than men have been Neet, a pattern than held until 2019, since when men have been in the majority.
The number of men who are economically inactive has been rising over recent years, mainly due to an increase in those who are long-term sick or disabled.
There are slightly more female Neets who are economically inactive (52 per cent of the total) than males (48 per cent), but this gap has narrowed since the start of the decade.
Age groups
Looking just at 16-17 year-olds, an estimated 84,000 people in this age group were classed as Neets in January to March 2026.
This is the equivalent of 5.1 per cent of all 16-17 year-olds in the UK.
The figure is up from 67,000 in the previous three months, or 4.1 per cent of all 16 to 17-year-olds.
It is the highest number since April-June 2012, when the figure stood at 93,000.
Some 61,000 of Neets aged 16 to 17 in the latest period were economically inactive, up from 45,000 in the previous quarter and the highest since October-December 2006 (64,000).
Among 18-24 year-olds, an estimated 928,000 were Neets in January-March 2026, or 15.8 per cent of all people in this age group.
This is the highest number since October-December 2013, when it was 971,000.
Long-term factors
A range of factors are likely to have contributed to the number of Neets in the UK.
Global events such as recessions, the pandemic and overseas conflicts have all had an impact on the UK economy and the cost of living in recent decades, which in turn have affected the number of vacancies and level of earnings across the job market.
Former Labour minister Alan Milburn has been leading an independent review into the increase in Neets and he published his interim findings in May.
His report stated there is not one cause behind the rise, instead highlighting factors such as the prevalence of smartphones and a lack of readiness for work on leaving school, as well as the pandemic and the condition of the jobs market.
“The evidence does not support a single explanation,” Mr Milburn said.
“It supports something harder to accept: that the institutions we built to support young people into adulthood are no longer fit for that purpose, and that the country has known this for some time.”
Mr Milburn spoke of “bedroom generation”, saying anxiety linked to social media is driving economic inactivity among young people.
The review’s research found that 84 per cent of Neets surveyed said they wanted a job or training.
As well as there being fewer jobs around for young people, the report stated that routes into work have narrowed, with the “death of the Saturday job” and a decline in apprenticeship starts.
Recommendations for fundamental reform are expected in Mr Milburn’s final report, which is due to be published in the autumn.
