Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET): November 2014

• There were 954,000 young people (aged from 16 to 24) in the UK who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), a decrease of 12,000 from April to June 2014 and down 142,000 from a year earlier

• The percentage of all young people in the UK who were NEET was 13.1%, down 0.1 percentage points from April to June 2014 and down 1.9 percentage points from a year earlier

• Just under half (47%) of all young people in the UK who were NEET were looking for work and available for work and therefore classified as unemployed. The remainder were either not looking for work and/or not available for work and therefore classified as economically inactive

This Statistical Bulletin contains estimates for Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) in the UK. An article providing background information (88.7 Kb Pdf) is available on the ONS website. The Bulletin is published four times a year in February, May, August and November. All estimates discussed in this Statistical Bulletin are for the United Kingdom and are seasonally adjusted. The figures discussed in this Statistical Bulletin are obtained from the Labour Force Survey (a survey of households) and are therefore estimates, not precise figures.

This Statistical Bulletin is accompanied by a data table in spreadsheet format (391.5 Kb Excel sheet).

For July to September 2014, there were 954,000 young people (aged from 16 to 24) who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), down 12,000 from April to June 2014 and down 142,000 from a year earlier. For July to September 2014, 13.1% of all people aged from 16 to 24 were NEET, down 0.1 percentage points from April to June 2014 and down 1.9 percentage points on a year earlier. Chart 1 shows the percentage of people aged from 16 to 24 who were NEET over the last five years.

For July to September 2014, there were 55,000 people aged from 16 to 17 who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), down 5,000 from April to June 2014 and down 4,000 from a year earlier. There were 899,000 people aged from 18 to 24 who were NEET, down 7,000 from April to June 2014 and down 138,000 from a year earlier.

Unemployment measures people without a job who have been actively seeking work within the last four weeks and are available to start work in the next two weeks. For July to September 2014, there were 450,000 unemployed young people (aged from 16 to 24) who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), down 13,000 from April to June 2014 and down 151,000 from a year earlier. For July to September 2014:

• there were 282,000 unemployed men aged from 16 to 24 who were NEET

• there were 167,000 unemployed women aged from 16 to 24 who were NEET

Economic inactivity measures people not in employment who have not been seeking work within the last four weeks and/or are unable to start work within the next two weeks. For July to September 2014, there were 504,000 economically inactive young people (aged from 16 to 24) who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET), up 1,000 from April to June 2014 and up 8,000 from a year earlier. For July to September 2014:

• there were 163,000 economically inactive men aged from 16 to 24 who were NEET

• there were 340,000 economically inactive women aged from 16 to 24 who were NEET