UK NEET — YOUNG PEOPLE NOT IN EDUCATION, EMPLOYMENT OR TRAINING
GBTT DATA RELEASE · LABOUR MARKET
NEET falls back from the one-million breach — no evidence yet of a policy turning point
The number that breached one million last quarter has eased back. 981,000 16–24 year-olds in the UK were not in education, employment or training in April to June 2026, down 30,000 on the quarter but still up 30,000 on the year. The NEET rate fell to 13.0%, from 13.5% in January to March — but it remains above the 12.8% recorded twelve months earlier. Read the quarterly fall cautiously: the ONS itself warns against drawing conclusions from short-term movements in this volatile LFS series. There is little here yet to justify claims of a policy dividend. Economic inactivity, not unemployment, still accounts for 60% of the total — 588,000 young people were economically inactive: out of work, but not counted as unemployed because they were not actively seeking work and/or available to start. A youth labour market that sheds 30,000 NEETs in one quarter after adding 55,000 the quarter before isn't stabilising. It's drifting, and the five-year direction of travel is unmistakably up.
Damian PudnerSENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, GREAT BRITISH THINK TANK
APRIL–JUNE 2026 · THE HEADLINE NUMBERS
TOTAL NEET
981k
YOUNG PEOPLE AGED 16–24 NEET, UK
−30,000 QoQ, but +30,000 YoY. Below one million again after breaching it last quarter.
NEET RATE
13.0%
% OF ALL 16–24 YEAR-OLDS IN THE UK
−0.5pp QoQ, +0.2pp YoY. Still above last year's rate.
−28,000 QoQ, +4,000 YoY. Out of work but not counted as unemployed — not actively seeking and/or not available to start. 60% of the NEET total.
UNEMPLOYED
393k
+26,000 YoY. 40% of the NEET total, actively seeking work but unable to find it.
QUARTERLY CHANGE
−30,000
Down from 1,011,000 in Jan–Mar 2026 — the first fall after the one-million breach.
YEAR-ON-YEAR CHANGE
+30,000
Up from 951,000 in Apr–Jun 2025. The five-year trend remains upward.
YOUNG MEN NEET RATE
13.7%
+0.4pp YoY. 530,000 young men NEET — the larger, faster-rising share.
YOUNG WOMEN NEET RATE
12.3%
Broadly flat YoY. 451,000 young women NEET.
HISTORIC TREND · 16–24 NEET TOTAL, UK, 2010–2026
NEET has pulled back from the one-million line, but the five-year trend still points up
16–24 NEET TOTAL, UK, THOUSANDS, END OF PERIOD
After falling for much of the 2010s from the 2011 post-financial-crisis peak, the NEET total reached around 760,000 in the second half of 2018 before subsequently turning higher, and has been climbing since the pandemic. It pushed above one million in January–March 2026, a level not seen for more than a decade, and this quarter's pullback to 981,000 takes it back under that line — but not back to where it stood a year ago. One quarter of relief does not undo a five-year climb, and the ONS's own volatility warnings on this series mean the fall should be read cautiously rather than as a turning point.
Source: ONS, Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK: August 2026, released 27 August 2026 — total, rate, cohort and composition figures for April–June 2026, seasonally adjusted, confirmed against the bulletin's own 1-month/12-month comparisons. Historical series 2010–2025 carried from GBTT's 28 May 2026 NEET release; anchor points (2011 peak, 2013 crossing, Jan–Mar 2026 breach) cross-checked against House of Commons Library briefing SN06705; intermediate annual points are approximate. LFS outputs moved to official statistics status on 11 August 2026.
Historical NEET series, 2010–2025 — carried from GBTT's 28 May 2026 release chart; anchor points cross-checked against SN06705; intermediate annual points are approximate rather than re-derived from the ONS quarterly time series this cycle.