According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS) report, the proportion of young people not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) in the UK during the first three months of this year was the lowest of any quarter in the last five years.
There were 943,000 16 to 24-year-old Neets during this period — down 20,000 (2 per cent) from October to December 2014 and 45,000 (5 per cent) from January to March last year.
It meant that 13 per cent of the total number (7,273,000) of 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK were Neet, which was the lowest figure seen during any quarter-period over the last five years, according to the ONS (see below).
During the first quarter of 2010, for example, there were 1,108,000 Neets, which was 15.9 per cent of the total number (7,349,000) of 16 to 24-year-old in the UK at that time.
The report added: “For January to March 2015, there were 53,000 people aged from 16 to 17 who were Neet, down 5,000 [8.6 per cent] from October to December 2014 and down 3,000 [5.3 per cent] from a year earlier.”
Meanwhile, it showed that there were 889,000 18 to 24-year-old Neets for January to March this year — down 15,000 (1.7 per cent) from October to December 2014 and 42,000 (4.5 per cent) from January to March 2014.
The report added: “Just under half (46 per cent) of all young people in the UK who were Neet were looking for work and available for work and therefore classified as unemployed [during the first quarter of this year].
“The remainder were either not looking for work and/or not available for work and therefore classified as economically inactive.”
