Can we talk about NEETs?

[MrsBennetsPoorNervesAreBack]

Sorry if there's a thread already and I've missed it. But I want to talk about NEETs.

Apparently, we are potentially going to have 1.25million young people not in employment, education or training by the early 2030s. This is quite an alarming number, and it feels like we're failing an entire generation - both the NEETs themselves, who don't seem to have very much going on in their lives that might give them a sense of satisfaction or achievement, but also their working peers who will presumably end up having to support them via the tax system.

I really don't want this to be a thread with lots of judgement or criticism of these young people - it seems to me that we must have failed them somehow as a society. I also want to steer clear of party politics if we can. But I really want to understand why we have so many young people in this position right now.

Does anyone have a child in this situation who would be willing to share why they find themselves in this position? What are the barriers to them studying or getting at least a part time job? Are they happy with how things are right now? Are they trying to change their situation? What do they actually do all day? Are they surrounded by friends who are in the same position? What do they do about money? And what do you feel about the whole situation as a parent?

If anyone is willing to share, I really hope we can avoid a pile-on in which the young people and/or their parents are subjected to a character assassination. I would like an honest and frank exchange of views and experiences because I do genuinely want to understand the root causes of this issue, but if it descends into blame and fingerpointing, then the whole conversation will get derailed.

For full disclosure, I do have a dc in the middle of the 16-24 age group, but neither she nor any of her friends fall into this category.

It's not the AI and computer interviews that are making it hard. They wouldn't be used if there weren't so many applications to filter. If only a dozen people apply then you can go through the applications by hand.

It's a bigger problem that automation and AI are replacing entry-level jobs. Automation makes an economy more "efficient" and "productive" but that's the downside.

Nope there are not. Summer camps are not going to employ every 16-21 year old in college/ uni.🙄My son is applying for summer work from uni and there’s nothing.

It stands for Not in Employment, Education or Training and applies to young people age 16 to 18 who have dropped through the cracks of the system which is supposed to make sure those in that age group are in one of those categories, and they have ended up unemployed with no obvious way forward. Some people have extended it to incorporate new graduates finding it hugely difficult to find employment in a very difficult job market, but that is really a separate issue with different causes and possible solutions.

The number of NEETS varies massively by area as well. For example North East at 15% compared to South West at 9.4%. There might be jobs available, but do you also have a high number of NEETS where you are?

Piggywaspushed I'm sorry to hear about your ds. It must be so disheartening. What was his degree and masters in?

There are still a few sectors which need people and don't employ the rigourous recruitment processes, construction is one area. Currently the sector has high levels of overseas workers as insufficient UK workforce. Even with AI electricians, plumbers, civil engineers, project managers will be needed.

Does anyone with a degree, go into teaching any longer?

Many posts have raised excellent points and I would say the areas that government can fix relate to the cost of employment of young workers, too rigourous h&s restrictions and opening opportunities for apprenticeships. An office isn't supposed to leave an under 18 year old alone due to insurance risks! It means meaningful work experience prior to 18 is non existent.

@LorenzoCalzone Not sure if the Degree Apprenticeships are that difficult to obtain..three years ago my son competed alongside very few students as they were all intent on going to Uni (encouraged by School and parents)

Quite baffling

In the three months to April 2026 there were around 705k jobs vacancies. Much lower than the number of NEETS, and that’s without adding in the adults looking for employment.

It’s pretty unforgivable though when people go for actual physical interviews and don’t even get told they didn’t get the job or get any feedback. Those people who can’t be arsed to do this would be outraged if that happened to them.

It’s demoralising enough not to get the job but if someone’s made the effort to apply and turn up for interviews at least give them a few minutes of time.

They are.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/05/24/apprenticeships-harder-to-come-by-than-oxbridge-places/

But this has always been the case. It's not new. Plenty of people - more than did get jobs in that field (including my husband) - did the same process as me, never got a job and moved on to something else, less prestigious, some might even call "menial" (though neither I nor he would).

Young people are struggling because of the declining job market, I don't think anyone doubts that. But there are other factors. Because of minimum wage, young people are not cheaper anymore (at least after a point) and so the benefit of training someone up cheaply has fallen away. Of course in a poor job market people with no or limited experience (predominantly those who are younger because they have had no time to get experience) will be less in demand when it is the same cost for someone who has done the job before, and someone who hasn't. And because of the way we medicalise and infantilise children, they are as a general rule less prepared for the "world of work".

It can be both true that the job market is poor, effecting young people disproportionately and that young people aren't making particularly good employees at present. My view is that it is, but young people and their parents are unlikely to be able to change the job market, so maybe better to change attitude and approach and accept that things may need to be different before they get a job.

You only have to do a quick google to see all the government funded supports out there for for NEETS. The difficult part is getting them through the door to engage with them. It would be interesting to know the percentage of young people that are NEETS now and end up long-term unemployed because the longer they are not in education, training or employment the further and further they get from the labour market and the more unemployable they become.

There needs to be a lot more one to one mentoring support, coaching, life skills, personal development, supported work experience opportunities, community employment programmes which include training, before many are in a position to look for work or successfully engage in long-term employment. Many of these young people have other needs already mentioned that probably never got the support or attention they needed, they have been failed by the education system they are low in confidence, self esteem and self worth. Some are probably from areas where few people did work r go to College so there are no role models for them. The support they need takes time and money but I would argue it is well worth the investment long-term

You’re ignoring the reality. Young people are doing that. When you’ve got uni grad applicants applying for 600 jobs including those they are over qualified for and getting nothing there is a problem. Incorrectly blaming young people isn’t going to help anybody.

I worked on a NEET project 20 years ago and it was aimed at under 18s who left school after GCSE. Now the conversation is about disabilty or post university employment, which is a massive change.

Look at the skilled jobs list for visa. Everything is on it and companies can pay overseas people less.

I agree with you there, it is tremendously sad. I've tried to talk about the benefits of volunteering, as someone who has been volunteering in some capacity or other since I was a student, but it falls on deaf ears. Well I don't think it even got to his ears since his mum shouted me down when I tried. I framed it as a positive, so "look what you can get out of this" as opposed to "you can't stay in your room all day" and still I was accused of bullying him!

That sounds like a lack of resilience and influence from social media showing you don’t need to do conventional jobs / be a slave to the job.

its a lovely concept but in reality you’ve got to have something really special / be very motivated to do something entrepreneurial

I was thinking of the university students I worked alongside who volunteered in our company and were well placed to apply for paid positions when they graduated.

Also people with an offending background who got a foot in the door by volunteering. They were on benefits though so not part of the NEET cohort.

I think there has to be some kind of national initiative to address this and incentivise businesses to offer opportunities to NEETS.

ETA I agree with you on transport costs. My company paid these to volunteers.

There are problems with gov schemes

Nearly half (about 44% to 50%) of all 16- to 24-year-olds who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) in the UK do not claim state benefits. This means roughly 400,000 to nearly 500,000 young people are "hidden" from the standard benefits and Jobcentre support system.

Thinning Entry-Level Jobs & Disrupted Education
The environment for young workers has changed dramatically. Entry-level, medium-skilled jobs and traditional Saturday roles have halved, squeezed out by automation and shifting business practices. Charities and social commissions note that one-size-fits-all, centralized education policies have often failed disadvantaged youth with low qualifications.

Delays and Strictness in the Youth Guarantee
The government’s cornerstone policy, the Youth Guarantee, guarantees six-month paid work placements for 18–21 year olds. However, systemic issues exist with this rollout: The guarantee largely kicks in only after an individual has spent 18 months or more on benefits. Evidence suggests that the longer a young person is out of the labour market, the harder it is to support them. The scheme largely targets 18–21 year olds, which means many 16–17 year olds and older youth up to age 24 may not receive the same guaranteed placement support…..

I know of 4 NEETS just in my circle. One does absolutely not deserve this and he’s tried so hard the last twelve months, it’s becoming a desperate situation as depression kicks in and a vicious cycle starts, now done nothing for a year and can’t get anything and the rot is setting in. I feel desperately sorry for him.

The other three have zero intention I don’t think of even looking. One is now pregnant and my friend is annoyed the father isn’t working and has never worked but neither has her daughter! But neither have really looked.

To be fair this is true
There needs to be a system to provide support to young workers to move to areas with more work. Lots of sectors like construction have shortages. We need state sponsored colleges to train people for these industries, with financial incentives to existing plumbers/roofers etc to offer placements to train young people.

Volunteering doesn't reduce the NEET figures. It may well be useful : but my experience suggests that lots of YPs are building up lots of paid and unpaid work experience and still can't get paid jobs or better paid jobs.

Volunteering does require things like transport/lifts/ own car which is not always available.

My younger DS has been rejected by three voluntary organisations. We do actaully know in each case these roles went to retirees with lots of life experience , probably better people skills and -crucially- cars.

Volunteering ahs its place but it doesn't give YPs the money they need to learn to drive, buy cars etc etc.

I don’t blame those young people. The majority want to work. It’s policies letting them down.

My point is in a competitive market you have to make yourself more competitive; the traditional way for young people to do that was by being cheap. That is not open to them so if they really want to secure a job they have to look at how else they can raise themselves above the generality of the crowd. I'm not blaming young people (their parents otoh ...) I'm saying whinging about it isn't going to help. And of course not all of them will get a job, because there are not enough jobs. I'm not ignoring any reality, I'm saying you can't change the reality so you maybe need to look at how you can make yourself more employable. That might not work, but it is the best you can do.

Again, I should point out that in my profession, we have always got applications in the region of 600 applicants to each job - many people ultimately didn't get jobs. Now, they could "move down" to something less competitive, which I quite understand may not be the case if you are applying for entry level jobs, but still the best you can do is make yourself as competitive as possible. We have engineered a situation where there are fewer jobs due to costs of employment going up and no benefit to employing young people because everyone costs the same, and so we have to live with that reality, which means showing independence, resilience, an understanding of the way the world works, which of course includes realising that even with all of that you might not get a job, which is very, very tough.

But what's your solution?

I agree . Your company sounds great, but there won’t be many like that without some kind of incentive.

There are also quite a lot of places now cutting costs by advertising jobs as voluntary which really should be paid...