The number of young people not doing anything with their lives has hit its highest level in 11 years. Figures released this morning by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) on 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training – so-called NEETs – show that the number has reached just under one million in the last three months of 2024. Standing at 987,000, the number of NEETs is up by 110,000 since the end of 2023 – equivalent to a town the size of Oldham.
The new data means that nearly one in seven Britons aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training. The figures are worse for young men than for women (14.4 per cent vs 12.3 per cent); however, ONS statisticians said the increase in the last 12 months came from men and women equally.
Of the nearly one million NEETs, some 392,000 were unemployed but looking for work, whilst, alarmingly, the remaining 595,000 were classed as economically inactive – meaning they are not even looking for work. Meanwhile, the number of 16-24 year olds in the UK registered as out-of-work because of long-term illness jumped 15 per cent in the year to September (the most recent figures) and now stands at 266,000.
Some blame the rise in mental health conditions for the increase in young people living idle lives. Almost one in five young adults has a mental health condition and, as I reported last month, there has been an alarming rise in mental health problems among children. A fifth of eight- to 16-year-olds are experiencing a probable mental health disorder – up 125 per cent.
Others fear that GPs are too quick to diagnose mental health conditions and dish out antidepressants. As the graph below shows, the number of patients (of all ages) prescribed antidepressants in the UK has shot up in recent years.
Figures from the King’s Trust Youth Index Survey, also released today, show that a third of NEETs want to work but feel their mental health prevents them, whilst one in five is applying for jobs every day without success.
It is certainly true that the labour market has been cooling for at least a year, but vacancies still remain just above pre-pandemic levels, with 819,000 recorded last month. It is hard to escape the conclusion that those young men and women who say they really want to find work could be trying harder.
Most worryingly, once someone sets off down the path of believing they are too ill, stressed or anxious to work or study, they enter a cycle that is incredibly difficult to escape. The 110,000 who have found themselves joining the NEET category over the last year are likely to be condemned to a life of inactivity and reliance on the welfare state. It is a tragedy that is not only economic but human. If we want to prevent an idle generation from becoming a forgotten one, ministers will have to act – and they will have to act fast.
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