Resolution Foundation report says ‘crisis’ stems from rising ill-health and a failing system of benefits and job support
Britain has the third-highest rate of young people not in work or education among Europe’s richest countries because of rising ill-health and a failing system of benefits and job support, a report has warned.
The Resolution Foundation thinktank said the UK was facing a “crisis” in youth jobs amid a dramatic rise in the number of 16- to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training (Neets) to almost 1 million – the highest level in more than a decade.
It said a “quartet of causes” had led the UK to lose ground against many of its international peers, led by a rise in ill-health among young people, weak vocational education, a hands-off benefits system and a deteriorating jobs market.
Against a backdrop of growing alarm in government about the rise in youth unemployment in the UK, Resolution Foundation said the Neet rate for 18- to 24-year-olds had jumped from 13% in 2019 to 15% in 2025, leaving the UK with 900,000 Neets.
