Responding to the latest ONS figures on young people who are NEET (not in education, employment or training), Elizabeth Gerard, Deputy Director at Learning and Work Institute, said:
“Today’s ONS release shows that NEET rates for 16-24 year olds have dipped slightly in the last quarter, but there are still 981,000 young people not in Education, Employment or Training. The NEET rate is still higher than it was a year ago, continuing a longer-term upward trend over the last 5 years.
More than half of all young people who are NEET (around 588,000) are ‘economically inactive’ meaning they are not only out of work or education, but are also not actively looking for or available for work – disconnected from the labour market entirely. The data also shows that too many young people are struggling to make the transition from education into sustainable employment as they move into adulthood: the NEET rate for those aged 21 to 24 is almost double that of 16 to 20-year-olds.
We need to see the Government reject incremental change and respond boldly to the upcoming Milburn Review with a clear, joined up, and long-term strategy for young people. This cannot be done by government alone, but will require co-ordinated activity for employers, education providers and communities. Our ambition should be to reduce the NEET rate to 10% and ensure that no young person who is able to engage in work, education or training remains NEET for more than a year.”
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