The share of young people in Britain who are neither earning nor learning is rising, and is now significantly higher than in our peer countries according to a report out this morning by the Resolution Foundation Tbink Tank
After falling for much of the 2010s, the proportion of 18-24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training (the ‘NEET rate’) climbed from 13 per cent in 2019 to 15 per cent in 2025 – equivalent to almost 900,000 young people.
This recent rise is only part of the story: the UK’s NEET rate was already high compared to other countries even before it began rising.
Just over half of the post-2019 rise in NEETs can be explained by a weaker labour market. The rest reflects not worse unemployment than economic conditions would predict, but higher economic inactivity that has been rising alongside worsening health and increasing incapacity benefit claims.
Looking abroad however, ill health need not translate into poor participation outcomes. Rather, countries with the lowest NEET rates do so by having more people in education (or combining education and work), alongside benefits systems that have more extensive requirements, but offer more generous support than in the UK.
The report makes three recommendations
Improving young people’s health, particularly through better mental health provision in schools and colleges to reduce the numbers becoming NEET due to ill health in the first place.
Keeping more young people in education for longer with improvements to vocational pathways, and by ring-fencing at least two-thirds of the Growth and Skills Levy funding for under-25s.
Reforming work support and requirements for young people receiving benefits by tightening work requirements and providing single-system tailored support that is backed by a permanent programme (open to all young people, not just those claiming benefits) that addresses the multiple barriers NEETs face.
Lindsay Judge, Research Director at the Resolution Foundation, said:
“The share of young people in Britain who are neither earning nor learning is rising, and now significantly higher than in our peer countries.
“While the post-pandemic increase is explained by a weaker labour market and rising ill-health, longstanding issues like weak vocational education, and a benefits system that both expects and provides too little to its claimants, are also playing a major role in Britain having the third highest NEET rate in Europe.
“Fixing Britain’s NEET crisis starts with investment in youth mental health support and vocational education, and a serious rethink of how young people interact with the benefit system. That is how countries like the Netherlands keep their NEET rate a third of ours.”
