UK Breaking Records For All of the Wrong Reasons

In an increasingly internet-centred world, acronyms are becoming more and more part of our typical vocabulary. An under-discussed one is NEET, standing for Not in Education, Employment, or Training – coined in the 1990s to refer to young people struggling to transition from schooling to work.

In modern society, this definition is too simplistic and has resulted in the downplaying of the unemployment crisis in young adults. 

NEET rates over the last decade appear to be flat or even slightly decreasing. However, take a closer look, and you will find that the rising rates of economic dislocation for men, combined with falling rates for women, has created the illusion of a stable trend. 

Further obscuring NEET figures is the inclusion of young parents in the category. Counting a shrinking pool of young stay-at-home parents in the economically disengaged group is contributing to the seemingly steady rate, while in reality, concern should be placed on the fact that young adults aged 20-24 who are not in education, working, seeking work, or parenting, has doubled from 4.5% to 9% in the UK in just over a decade.

Among 16 – 24 year olds, the unemployment rate has hit its highest in a decade, 16.1% in the final quarter of 2025, making the UK youth unemployment rate higher than the EU average, which stands at an alarmingly high 14.9%.

Many factors are thought to play into why the UK NEET rate is so high – policy changes and the evolution of AI being at the forefront.

Steep increases to the youth minimum wage have increased the cost of employing for businesses, which paired with the advancements in technology, has incentivised a switch to machines. The hospitality sector has seen the heaviest decline in jobs – an industry that usually gives young people their first experience of work, due to being hit hard by the tax and wage changes. 

It isn’t just part-time, minimum wage jobs that are few and far between; entry-level jobs are also disappearing at a rapid rate. The level of joblessness for graduates is above the overall unemployment rate, for the first time ever. The lack of hiring at the entry-level has created a diamond structure in many industries – a crowd of people in the middle, with few in entry-level positions. 

Where are the people in the middle going to come from if firms aren’t hiring from the bottom? How are people expected to gain the experience to be able to work in the middle if they cannot even be hired at the bottom?

Firms’ solution: the adoption of AI. A solution that will only exacerbate youth unemployment.

The government proposes a different explanation as to why youth unemployment is so steep: high diagnosis rates of ADHD and similar conditions. The UK is experiencing a growing share of socio-economically isolated young adults reporting to suffer from a mental health issue that prevents them from working or seeking work. However, this is unlikely to be the leading cause of such high levels of NEETs, as the number of mental condition diagnoses is rising across the rich world, yet other nations’ rates of youth unemployment aren’t nearly as high.

The prominence of technology in daily life is seen to be hindering the job search in this group, as phones are displacing in-person socialising. Young people who are not in work, studying, or raising children now spend seven hours per day on average completely alone.

Transitioning from long-term joblessness into the world of work has never been easy, but it will be especially difficult for a group that has grown increasingly socially isolated and is competing for roles against artificial systems designed to be unparalleled in their knowledge.

In attempts to tackle the issue, the government plans to implement a “youth guarantee” which will offer all 18 – 21 year-olds access to a job, training place or apprenticeship forms, and will widen access to mental health services where necessary. However, half of those counted as NEET are aged between 22 and 24, suggesting that many of those requiring help will not be included.

The figures are concerning enough, but the additional factors beneath the surface mean that reversing the trend will prove complicated.