Alan Milburn, the Labour statesman who is due next month to produce his report on young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (Neets) is trying to tackle the biggest problem facing the UK economy.
So long as we consign a million people aged 16-24 to an economic wilderness where they are unable to start their working lives, we have little chance of prosperity or growth, let alone growth in every postcode.
It is a great betrayal of the young. As the Institute of Economic Affairs points out, the likelihood of being Neet is bound up with regional and economic inequality.
In North East England, for instance, the Neet rate of 20 per cent is more than twice that of the South West.
Factors such as drug use, dysfunctional families and generational unemployment, where no one has had a job for decades, come into play.
