The number of young people not in work, education or being trained is higher than when the government came to power three years ago, after remaining unchanged at just over 1 million in the three months to June.
Official figures released yesterday said 15.1% of 16-24 year olds were classified as NEETs (not in employment, education or training), up from 14.8% in the second quarter of 2010.
Data from the Office for National Statistics showed that the number of NEETs peaked in late 2011 when the economy entered a second period of weakness following the global crash of 2008-09.
Since then the number of young people either without work, at school or university or obtaining skills training has fallen by 150,000 to 1,092,000. That was down 1,000 on the first quarter of 2013 but 10,000 up on when Labour left office in the spring of 2010.
The Opposition blames the scrapping of the Future Jobs Fund, which provided subsidies to help young people find work, for the increase in NEETs after 2010. The scheme was considered too expensive and scrapped as part of George Osborne’s austerity plan but a subsequent study by the Department for Work and Pensions showed that the state gained by £7,500 per participant as a result of higher taxes and lower benefits.
Skills minister Matthew Hancock said: “With GCSE results out today, I am heartened to see the fall in the number of young people not in work, training or education. We are heading in the right direction, but one young person out of work, education or training is one too many.
“That is why we are continuing to work hard to give young people the skills, confidence and experience demanded by employers and universities. Only then can we say we have done everything we can to ensure young people reach their potential and help us compete in the global race.”
The government said it was tackling the NEETs problem by making sure young people were ready to be employed. It said this would be achieved by ensuring that young people continued their education until they were 18, by raising the quality of apprenticeships and through spending £7.4bn on funding education and training places for 16 and 17-year-olds and £4.1bn on adult learning and skills.
The ONS said that of the 1,092,000 categorised as NEETs, 586,000 were unemployed. That was up a seasonally adjusted 6,000 on the first quarter but 58,000 lower than in the second quarter of 2012.
The remainder were deemed economically inactive either because they had not looked for work within the past month or were unable to start a job in the next fortnight.
This article titled “Number of young jobless higher than when coalition came to power” was written by Larry Elliott, for The Guardian on Thursday 22nd August 2013 17.44 UTC