A generation is being left behind, and the clock is ticking. If nothing changes, one in six young people in the UK will be without work or training within five years, according to a major new review into the roots of rising youth unemployment.
The findings make for grim reading. Getting a foot on the career ladder has become “out of reach” for a significant chunk of under-25s, the report concludes, pointing to a toxic mix of poor mental health, a shortage of entry-level roles, and a school-to-work transition that simply isn’t fit for purpose anymore.
The numbers are stark. Youth unemployment has been creeping upward since 2022, and the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds classed as NEET, not in employment, education or training, now sits at levels that haven’t been seen outside a recession. For young people in coastal towns, former industrial heartlands, and parts of the Midlands, the picture is considerably worse than the national average suggests.
Campaigners say the system is failing young people at almost every turn. Careers advice in secondary schools remains patchy at best; apprenticeship starts have fallen sharply since their 2017 peak; and the post-pandemic jobs boom largely bypassed those without prior experience or connections. It’s a catch-22 that anyone who’s ever been told they need experience to get experience will recognise immediately.
“We’re not talking about young people who don’t want to work,” one youth employment advocate told the review panel. “We’re talking about young people who can’t find a way in.”
Mental health runs through the report like a thread. A significant portion of young people currently out of work cite anxiety, depression, or other conditions as a barrier, and the review is clear that without proper support services, simply creating more job vacancies won’t be enough.
The report calls for a cross-government youth employment strategy, better coordination between schools, colleges, and local employers, and ring-fenced funding for mental health provision tied specifically to economic participation.
Whether ministers will act with the urgency the situation demands is, of course, another question entirely. One in six sounds like a statistic right up until it’s someone you know.
