The levels of young people not in employment, education or training is the highest level in three years, according to Office for National Statistics figures.
There were 800,000 young people aged between 16 and 24 years in the UK who were not in education, employment or training in July to September 2019, the figures reveal. This number increased by 43,000 when compared year on year with July to September 2018 and was up 8,000 from April to June 2019.
"This is the highest number since October to December 2016, but still well below the peak of 1.2 million in the latter half of 2011. The number was up 43,000 when compared with July to September 2018, the largest annual increase since January to March 2012, and increased by 8,000 from April to June 2019," said the report.
In July to September 2019, 11.6% of all people aged 16 to 24 years were NEET which is the highest proportion seen since the same period in 2016. The proportion was up 0.7 percentage points from July to September 2018, the largest annual increase since January to March 2012, and increased by 0.1 percentage points from April to June 2019.
Of all young people in the UK who were NEET in July to September 2019, 39.6% were looking for, and available for, work and therefore classified as unemployed. The remainder were either not looking for work and/or not available for work and therefore classified as economically inactive, the report said.
Unemployment measures people without a job who have been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and are available to start work in the next two weeks. For July to September 2019, there were 317,000 unemployed young people aged 16 to 24 years who were not in education, employment or training (NEET), up 33,000 from July to September 2018 but down 13,000 from April to June 2019. There were 212,000 unemployed men and 105,000 unemployed women - which was the lowest number since records started in October to December 2001.
Economic inactivity measures people not in employment who have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or are unable to start work within the next two weeks. There were 484,000 economically inactive young people aged 16 to 24 years for July to September 2019, who were not in education, employment or training (NEET), up 10,000 from July to September 2018 and up 21,000 from April to June 2019.
This was made up of 211,000 economically inactive men and 272,000 economically inactive women, the report concluded.
