The number of young people out of education, employment or training has fallen to one million, underlining growing pressure on Britain’s fragile labor market and increasing calls for targeted intervention from ministers.
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that an estimated 957,000 people aged 16 to 24 were classed as Neet between October and December 2025. That represents 12.8 percent of the age group, a slight increase from the previous quarter and dangerously close to the one million mark last seen after the global financial crisis.
Although the overall figure is slightly lower by 0.4 percentage points compared to the same period last year, the quarterly increase reflects continued weakness in the employment outlook for young people, particularly as hiring in hospitality, retail and graduate programs continues to decline.
The ONS said the recent rise was mainly due to an increase in the number of young women being classified as Neet. At the end of 2025, 12.2 percent of young women were neither in work nor in education or training, an increase compared to the previous quarter. The number of young men in the same category, however, fell slightly.
A young person is considered Neet if he or she is unemployed and actively looking for work or is economically inactive, i.e. The data shows that the number of unemployed Neets increased by 12.3 percent compared to the previous quarter, while the number of inactive Neets fell by 6.6 percent, suggesting that more young people are trying to re-enter the labor market but are struggling to find jobs.
The UK labor market remains subdued, with job vacancies recently falling to their lowest level in five years. Youth unemployment was disproportionately affected by employers cutting hiring in response to rising wage costs and higher social security contributions.
Research from the Youth Futures Foundation has highlighted that long-term illnesses, mental health problems and neurodivergence are the main causes of increasing economic inactivity among young people in recent years.
Joseph, 24, from Solihull, autistic and unemployed for three years, described the difficulty of entering the job market.
“It’s a real taboo that you need experience to get a job, but you can only get experience through a job,” they said. “Confidence can definitely be an issue. I’ve only ever done one job that was in person. I didn’t know how things worked, like getting to work and stuff like that.”
Joseph said autism “can be a barrier, but it can also be a strength,” adding that many employers don’t understand this. They are currently being supported by a King’s Trust youth worker to help them find paid employment.
Work and Pensions Minister Pat McFadden acknowledged that young people’s inactivity was “a long-term challenge” and said the government supported apprenticeships and paid work placements.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has pledged that young people who have been out of work or education for 18 months will be offered a guaranteed paid internship. Anyone who refuses will face sanctions, a proposal that has been criticized by some activists.
An independent inquiry into the rise in inactivity among young people, led by former Labor health secretary Alan Milburn, is underway and is due to be published this summer. Milburn said he would investigate systemic failings in employment support, skills provision, health and social care.
Louise Murphy, senior economist at the Resolution Foundation, warned that Britain was “dangerously close” to a youth unemployment crisis.
“Today’s data adds to the picture of a generation facing real and complex barriers to finding a good job and improving their standard of living,” she said. “Acting sooner rather than later can help prevent these worrying trends from becoming a profound crisis.”
The think tank called on Reeves to make an exception to her politically loose spring statement and introduce additional measures to directly combat youth unemployment.
The data also increases pressure on ministers over plans to scrap the lower minimum wage rate for 16 and 17 year olds. Some employers argue that equalizing rates would make it too costly to hire younger workers, although margins remain tight.
Government sources have indicated that while ministers are reluctant to abandon the pledge, a delay is being considered.
Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said the figures showed “the scale of the challenge facing young people and the government”.
“There is a significant risk that more young people will become unemployed in the long term if the government does not address the causes of this increase,” he said.
The last time the number of young Neets exceeded one million was between July and September 2011, after the ongoing financial crisis of 2008. Analysts warn that a continued weakness in entry-level recruitment risks damaging an entire generation, with long-term consequences for incomes and productivity.
The ONS warned that the Neet figures may be volatile compared to broader unemployment data due to the smaller sample size. The statistics come from the Labor Force Survey, whose response rates and data quality have come under scrutiny in recent years. The ONS says it is working to improve the survey through increased recruitment of interviewers and methodological reforms.
For now, however, the headline that almost a million young people are out of work or education is a stark reminder of the fragility of the UK youth labor market.
