Young People: Unemployment

(asked on 20th January 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many young people aged between 16 and 19 years old were not in education, employment or training in each quarter of 2018.


Answered by
 Portrait
Lord Agnew of Oulton
This question was answered on 3rd February 2020

The number and proportion of 16 to 18 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England for each quarter of 2018[1] can be found in the table below:

January to March 2018

Number of 16 to 18 year old NEETs

117,000

Percentage of 16 to 18 year old NEETs

6.5%

April to June 2018

Number of 16 to 18 year old NEETs

117,000

Percentage of 16 to 18 year old NEETs

6.5%

July to September 2018

Number of 16 to 18 year old NEETs

148,000

Percentage of 16 to 18 year old NEETs

8.2%

October to December 2018

Number of 16 to 18 year old NEETs

124,000

Percentage of 16 to 18 year old NEETs

7%

Source: ‘NEET statistics annual brief: 2018’, from the ‘Labour Force Survey’, available at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/neet-statistics-annual-brief-2018. Numbers rounded to the nearest 1000.

It should be noted, that due to seasonal variation in NEET rates, comparisons should not be made between in-year quarters.

The proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) was the lowest on record in the first 3 quarters of 2018.

As shown in the table below, there has been a downward trend in 16 to 18 year old NEETs since 2010:

Percentage of 16 to 18 year old NEETs in 2010

Percentage of 16 to 18 year old NEETs in 2018

Change (in percentage points)

January to March

10.2%

6.5%

-3.7

April to June

10.3%

6.5%

-3.8

July to September

13.5%

8.2%

-5.3

October to December

8.3%

7.0%

-1.3

Local authorities have a statutory duty to identify and support young people who are NEET.

Under Raising the Participation Age, all young people in England are now required to continue in education or training until their 18th birthday. Most continue until the end of the academic year in which they turn 18.

Additionally, the government invested around £7 billion during the last academic year to ensure there was a place in education or training for every 16 to 19 year old.

Regarding further education, the Adult Education Budget funds the first full level 2 and 3 qualifications for 19 to 23 year olds, training up to level 2 for unemployed people and English and maths for all adults who have not achieved level 2.

[1] The figures are based on young people aged 16 to 18 as at 31 August 2018, the start of the academic year, and will therefore include young people who turn 19 throughout the course of the 2018/19 academic year.

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