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Sharp increase in NEETs during Q4

ended 23. February 2023

New data from the ONS published this morning has revealed that there was a sharp increase in the number of young people who were aged 16 to 24 years and not in education, employment or training (NEET) in October to December 2022, with the total currently estimated to be 788,000, up from 724,000 in July to September 2022. Other facts below. Any thoughts on why there has been a spike, send them across ASAP as this story is BREAKING.

  • The percentage of all young people who were NEET in October to December 2022 was estimated at 11.5%, up 0.9 percentage points on the quarter (July to September 2022), and up 0.5 percentage points compared with pre-coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic levels (October to December 2019).
  • The increase in the number of young people who were NEET was equally driven by men and women, who both saw an increase of 32,000 on the quarter (from July to September 2022).
  • The number of young people who were NEET and unemployed in October to December 2022 was estimated to be 299,000, an increase of 65,000 on the quarter (from July to September 2022); this was the biggest quarterly increase since July to September 2011 and a record quarterly increase for women of 32,000.

3 responses from the Newspage community

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Tahina Akther
Barrister and Co-Founder at Wildcat Law
One of the first things that companies do when they are experiencing or expecting difficult trading is to halt recruitment. We term this the first phase. This is one of the driving forces behind the latest data. This disproportionately impacts younger people as they lack experience at a time that companies only want recruits that will immediately add to their profitability. We are already in the second stage for many companies, which is laying off staff via redundancies. This phase often hits the older end of the workforce the most, as businesses look to remove the most costly members of staff - often those who have served the longest, and hence are typically older. The good news for the NEETs is that when the economy improves and companies are forecasting growth again, they often look to younger recruits.
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Samuel Mather-Holgate
Independent Financial Adviser at Mather and Murray Financial
The data period would suggest that the increase was caused by those leaving education unable to find work in the economy. This is no surprise given the lack of confidence caused by political uncertainty and increasing interest rates. I would expect these numbers to continue to increase until the central bank pivots on monetary policy, reestablishing confidence in the business community.
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Jen David
Owner at Jen David
This data likely reflects the fact that the school year ends in summer and the majority of apprenticeships start in the new year. So you have a situation where many young people have to choose between a short-term temporary job to fill the gap and kicking back and enjoying their last few months of freedom before embarking on a lifetime of 9-5. I know which I'd choose.