Young people and work review – NEETs speak out

With almost 1 million 16-24-year-olds not in education, employment or training (NEET), it’s clear that urgent systemic changes must happen.

A Government-commissioned report produced by social mobility adviser, Alan Milburn, gives an in-depth insight into why rising numbers of young people are not in education, employment or training.

He looks at the causes and extent of the issue, setting out the harsh reality of job seeking for young people today. In his foreword, he states that with the numerous barriers to progression that can, for some, be insurmountable, the problem has progressed to detachment:

“Today, the deeper problem is youth detachment from the labour market. Nearly 60% of young people who are NEET now are economically inactive. They are not just out of work. They are not looking for work.”

NEETs speak out

While many reports focus on the entire picture, here, we wanted to concentrate on Chapter 2: in their own words. In this chapter, young people have shared their experiences of trying to get on in life once their school careers have ended.

Their stories challenge the stereotype of a “soft generation” unwilling to take responsibility. Instead, the chapter describes a generation faced with uncertainty, poor mental health. and a labour market with digital recruitment systems that can feel impersonal and inaccessible.

One recurring theme is that training institutions, recruiters and employers place a disproportionate focus on applicants’ ‘deficits’. In one example, a young person who was now in care had previously been persistently late to school, and the reason had not been recorded:

“Her school attendance was ‘amazing’ now, the care staff told us. Nobody had known, for most of her childhood, why it had not been amazing before. She was looking after her younger siblings before local authorities took them away from her parents.”

Again and again, the report says, young people have interests, skills and ambitions that are easy to miss if institutions focus only on deficits – time keeping, not being ‘academic’, not being engaged by what’s on offer in school, and so on. It’s clear that the education system is not serving many young people as it should.

Huge efforts to move forward

Far from being unwilling to work, many young people are actively trying to enter work but are met with barriers that make the first step feel impossible. The report repeatedly returns to this mismatch between aspiration and opportunity.

Young people describe applying for dozens, sometimes hundreds, of jobs, only to hear nothing back. Others face automated rejections, interviews followed by silence or job adverts that ask for experience they cannot possibly have yet.

The chapter of the report also captures how young people experience support services. They often feel seen, assessed and referred, but not truly helped. Being processed by a system is not the same as being supported by one.

Young people also repeatedly described services that can identify risk but that don’t always follow through with practical help, sustained contact or a clear route into employment, training or education

Support systems must change

The voices recorded within this chapter of the report are varied. Some young people had left school early; others had qualifications, ambitions or emerging talents, but still struggled to get a start into adult life, due to barriers to further study or a job.

It shows that the NEET crisis is far from being a tale of laziness or apathy. It actually highlights that the times have changed significantly, yet the support systems in place have failed to do so and are largely leaving young people high and dry.

Read the Young people and work report here.