Really interesting report on NEETs. What do you think happens next?

[SomedayIllBeSaturdayNight]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/23/uk-young-people-workplace-anxiety-alan-milburn

Such an interesting report by Alan Millburn in why the UK has so many young NEETs.

' “[Young people] are different, not worse, not lazier, not less intelligent. They have grown up in a digital world that has rewired how they communicate, form relationships and manage stress. They have fewer experiences of workplaces and they present with higher levels of anxiety and depression.”

Does this ring true to you? And what are the next few years going to look like?

I personally can't see any reason for the government not to ban social media for under 16s in this context.

More than half of the UK’s 946,000 Neets have never worked, and a quarter are classed as unable to work due to a long-term sickness or disability. Of these, 43% say that mental health problems are the primary reason they are unable to work, up from 24% in 2011.
The government said last year that the proportion of Neets in the UK is significantly higher than in many other developed countries.
The country has about double the number of Neets as Japan or Ireland, and three times as many as the Netherlands. Unemployment under the age of 23 has been linked to lower wages even two decades later.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/23/uk-young-people-workplace-anxiety-alan-milburn

I don't recall my daughter or any of her friends struggling 2 years ago. She did a week in a hospital, applying through their standard application process and a week in a school. Not the one she attended either; one where she knew noone.

She is however changing college course after a year and we have told her she needs a job if she wants to drop out before the end of term. If she can't find a job she will be expected to remain on her current course AND to pass the first year. She's very motivated to have a job before the end of half term having secured an unconditional offer for college next year. Being a neet is not an option, even if it's only for 4w until the end of term.

The right support is key.

These young people have lived through a pandemic when services (eg CAMHs which shut up shop )and 14 years of austerity under the Tories who frankly did sfa about the impact of SM on kids, vapes, an awful Gove lead education system etc.

I’m surprised the numbers aren’t higher to be frank.

You said the jobs didn't exist, that's a sweeping statement. They do in lots of areas. Also all of my friends who have older children Y11 up have jobs and most of them are at uni all over the country and have jobs there, so it's not like I live in a bizarre YP employment hotspot. The job market overall is more challenging than it has been but to say they don't exist is untrue. It's also not a helpful position to perpetuate to young people who may then be discouraged from seeking part time employment

Quoted the wrong post I was quoting

@TheCurious0range Good for you but where I live they don’t

Asian countries do not invest as much into their children. China, India, Japan, SE Asia. They all have smartphones and not such a high level of anxious people.

@TheCurious0range but lots of the jobs don’t exist, it’s not just my opinion. Work is very different for 16/17 yr olds today. The data is out there, you are free to Google.

Not what I asked. PP said other countries don’t have these levels of anxiety so I asked for examples. Not examples for countries with lower rates of NEETS.

Since you replied to me though, any comments on the fact that the Netherlands has comparable levels of anxieTy and depression to the UK in young people , considering you claimed they’re more mentally healthy as a contributing factor to that low number, rather than their policies?

Alan Milburn calls them the “bedroom generation” and I agree entirely. Instead of going out to hang around in parks or in living rooms, they’re online instead.

We need a public health campaign to teach parents of the dangers of screen time. Make it as socially unacceptable to hand a 2 year old a phone to play with as to hand them a cigarette. Ban social media for under 16s and fine their parents.

Parents in Silicon Valley and in technology generally are not letting their children have hours of mindless scrolling or gaming.

So retail work, hospitality working in cafés, bars, ice cream parlours, hair washing at a hairdresser, lifeguarding at the local pool or beach, jobs at theme parks etc don't exist anymore? These are all the kinds of jobs young people did when I was young and are still very much in existence today. Or are you suggesting we need to send the young people back down the mines?

I thought Japanese children had higher mental health issues vs our dc?

And yet, Japan is often cited as one of the countries with really high levels of anxiety, with young people withdrawing from society and school refusal on the increase too.

…our kids are literally called ‘the anxious generation’

So retail work, hospitality working in cafés, bars, ice cream parlours, hair washing at a hairdresser, lifeguarding at the local pool or beach, jobs at theme parks etc don't exist anymore?

It is much harder for a 16 & 17 yr old to get one of the above jobs these days. What about that are you misunderstanding?

Or are you suggesting we need to send the young people back down the mines?

What on earth are you talking about?

I think there are far fewer jobs than there used to be, lots of fake jobs and much harder to get the jobs.

That said, there are some jobs. DS, 22, has been offered a £50 k a year job in finance, where he will be working mostly with hard working, focused immigrants for whom being NEET was not an option. He sent out about 200 applications and has not looked up from his books for 6 years.

DD is earning far less, but she's working.
All her friends are working. DDs boyfriend is an immigrant who came here to study and now works for a huge advertising company. He didn't get all this child investment posters mention.

You’re so utterly desperate to prove this entire report is a sham and young people are happier and more productive than ever that I could show you ANYTHING and you’d try to wriggle it off the hook.

It feels even more interesting that one of countries the article picked have similar anxiety levels, access to phones but lower neets. They must be doing something to support work which another pp has said they are. I feel we should do that..

Edited to add the article doesnt really seem to if peoole are depressed /anxious but whether they are in employment despite being depressed anxious.

I still find it odd it concluded phones and not other structures alongside phones.

Is this the stupid NEET equivalent of people fighting for benefits saying we all want workhouses back?

Agree. A lot of guilty parents trying to blame CAMHS and ‘the system’

Harder to get is very different to your assertion that these jobs don't exist anymore. As I said jobs are harder to get across the board.

At no point did I even imply anything like that. The difference is I like facts and policies that work , are based on facts not assumptions.

You’re so determined to dismiss the NEETS as work shy, lazy , chavy fuckabouts that not one statement you made was actually factual. If you really want change and improvement , look at what works and why it works, rather than use this thread to bitch about young people. The Netherlands have less than a third the percentage of NEETS . Nothing to do with policies though right? Not one thing.

There is a difference between can’t work and won’t work.

I think an awareness campaign targeting the won’t works first clearly explaining how the effect of not working will stunt them for decades might be a fairly straightforward not too expensive to create option.

Harder to get is very different to your assertion that these jobs don't exist anymore. As I said jobs are harder to get across the board.

The post you quoted of mine said

“How many of these 1m are 16/17 as I wouldn’t expect them to be in work tbh. The jobs I did at that age don’t really exist now.”

Again, what are you struggling with?

I think it is my absolute duty not to allow my NT DC to get the idea that their nornal levels of anxiety and stress qualify them to stay in bed.

We have pathologised normal human conditions to a ridiculous extent. It is normal to be anxious before exams and interviews. The answer is to do more of them.

Also, I never said it was a sham. The numbers now are pretty close to the 90s (though lower percentage).The only real dip was around 2016. Why? What was different then? What worked? Why other than that period, there hasn’t been any significant improvement or policy that worked? Why have rates started rising again? Those are the questions you need to ask if you want real change.

@TheCurious0range As I said the landscape for employing 16/17 yr olds is completely different now. But you don’t have to believe me.

Employers don’t really want under 18s now due to changed legislation and fewer jobs are cash in hand. Technology has removed many entry roles. More competition with older experienced staff. Again not things I have made up.

I would like you to expand on your down the mines comment though? What an odd inference of my post.