UK risks a 'lost generation' of jobless young people

LONDON (AFP) — Britain risks creating a “lost generation” as the number of young people out of work and education surges, a government-commissioned review warned Thursday.

The number of 16- to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training — so-called “NEETs” — topped 1 million in the first quarter of the year for the first time since 2013, separate official data showed.

Without action, that figure could rise to 1.25 million, or one in six young people, within five years, the report said.

“We are at risk of a lost generation,” said Alan Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister who led the review and is due to propose solutions later this year.

“It’s a warning that far too many young people are reaching adulthood only to find the door to opportunity closed,” he told a news conference.

Calling the report “sobering” but vowing he would not allow a generation to be lost, Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to work with Milburn “on what more needs to be done.”

For Shana Fatahali, 23, who has spent the past two years searching for work in England’s West Midlands, “young people do want to get out there and have a job.”

“A lot of the older generation are stuck in the mindset that you fill your CV out, hand it in and you’ve got a job just like that. But times have moved on since then,” she told AFP.

‘Very anxious’

Fatahali, who has a 4-year-old and holds a health and social care diploma, noted there were few jobs “that fit around my responsibilities as a parent.”

She described feeling trapped, like many young people, in a cycle of being rejected for lacking experience while unable to gain it without an opportunity.

Starmer commissioned the review last year to understand the causes of rising youth unemployment.

While 84% of NEETs want to be employed or in training, the report found that many young people are struggling to reach “the first rung of the career ladder.”

It blamed a “sharp decline” in entry-level roles such as hospitality jobs, weekend jobs and apprenticeships.

“There is no shortage of effort on the part of young people. The shortage is of opportunity and of support,” Milburn said.

Faith, a 22-year-old in southwest England, told AFP that she struggled to find even part-time work as she neared the end of her master’s degree in criminology.

“I was applying everywhere in town, coffee shops, pubs, but they just ignore you,” she said, adding that the process made her feel “very anxious” about the future. “A lot of people go to university because it’s meant to help you get a job, but I haven’t seen that personally.”

‘Multiple barriers’

About a decade ago, Britain had a similar NEET rate to the European Union average. By last year, only Romania recorded a higher rate.

The report found rising mental health problems played a key role in the increase in NEETs in Britain.

“For the first time in perhaps two centuries, changes in health, especially in mental health, are impeding economic growth and causing a contraction in the supply of labor,” Milburn said.

The economic cost of the youth unemployment crisis was estimated at around 125 billion pounds ($168 billion) per year, taking into account lost tax revenue and higher health and welfare spending.

“Behind the statistics are real young people facing real and often multiple barriers,” said Sarah Yong, deputy chief executive at Youth Futures Foundation.

The British Chambers of Commerce said the issues identified have “long been reported by businesses.”

The “report must be a wake-up call for policymakers about the crisis of young people not in employment, education and training,” said Shevaun Haviland, BCC director general.

—

By ALEXANDRA BACON Agence France-Presse