Almost a million young people are not in school, college or work, UK government statistics have recently shown.
One in six 16- to 24-year-olds (16.2 per cent) are now considered “NEET” – not in education, employment or training, according to figures published by the Department for Education.
In total, 979,000 young people were classed as NEET in the se-cond quarter of this year.
This is 107,000 more youngsters than in the same quarter last year, and 126,000 more compared to the same period five years ago.
The statistics also show that many teenagers are leaving school with few prospects.
Almost one in 10 (9.8 per cent) 16- to 18-year-olds, around 186,000 in total, were not in any type of work or education in the second quarter of this year.
This has dropped slightly from the same point in 2010, the data show.
The new figures come just a week after government figures showed that the youth unemployment rate (for 16- to 24-year-olds) has soared to 20.2 per cent, up 0.2 percentage points from the three months to March.
Skills minister John Hayes insisted: “We’re taking action to get our young people into work, helping restore a sense of responsibility and pride in our communities.
“Having built the largest apprenticeships programme our country has seen, we’ll now do more to get young people who lack basic skills up to speed.”
Martin Johnson, deputy general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: “ATL welcomes the continued fall in the NEET figure for under-19s, as schools and colleges do their bit to raise the attainment of young people.
However, the terrible unemployment figures for young people generally show once again that it is not any imagined faults within the education system but rather the banker-produced recession which resigns them to the scrapheap.
“Young and older people alike desperately need the government to provide a plan B to get the economy going again if we are to avoid despair, depression and social disintegration.”
Shadow education secretary Andy Burnham said: “These figures show that the Tory-led government is being far too complacent about getting young people back to work or into training, and risks leaving the next generation behind.
“Putting young people on the dole is a waste of money and a waste of their potential.
“By scrapping Labour’s guarantee of an apprenticeship place for young people who want one, scrapping the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) and cutting careers services, this government is making it harder for young people to get on – so that for the first time there is a risk that the next generation will do worse than the last.”