Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what estimate he has made of the amount of potential tax revenue not received due to (a) economic inactivity and (b) unemployment of young people in the last 12 months.

The Government does not have a single recognised definition of young people for these purposes, with Office for National Statistics (ONS) labour market statistics published for 16 to 17, 18 to 24, and 25 to 34 year old age groups. Many young people in these groups are economically inactive by choice, as they dedicate their time to study and gain the knowledge they need to get the jobs they want. This will pay off later – for example, a Level 4/5 apprenticeship has a wage premium of 22% for those aged 19 and over in England. Meanwhile, the current unemployment rate for 16-24 year olds is low by historical standards and below the EU average.

More broadly, our employment rate is the 4^th highest in the G7 – higher than the US, Italy and France. Furthermore, the Government announced a £7 billion package of support to target labour supply at the Spring Budget, which led the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) to increase its estimate of employment by 110,000 by 2027-28.