"Another week, another set of sobering economic numbers. Last Thursday, the Office for National Statistics published its latest quarterly estimate of the number of 16- to 24-year-olds who are so-called Neets people not in education, employment or training. As usual, experts have warned that figures extracted from the UK's flawed labour force survey should be taken with a pinch of salt."
"But there was still universal agreement about the huge issues the figures highlighted, and the hundreds of thousands of young people, 946,000, if the stats are to be believed, who are living on the UK's social and economic edge. The government has announced its latest review of all this, led by the New Labour veteran Alan Milburn, who will apparently focus on the relevance of disability and mental health."
"This week, moreover, Rachel Reeves is reportedly going to make the predicament of Neets one of the big themes of her budget. As ever, mood music is being provided by parts of the media that tend to specialise in the kind of condescension and generational loathing recently crystallised by a Daily Mail headline that might easily have been coughed out by ChatGPT: Sicknote youths to dodge clampdown: Pledge to stop benefits for the workshy won't include those with anxiety."
The Office for National Statistics estimates 946,000 16–24-year-olds in the UK are Neets. Experts warn Labour Force Survey-derived figures are flawed and should be treated with caution. The government has launched a review led by Alan Milburn to examine the roles of disability and mental health. Rachel Reeves intends to prioritize the Neets predicament in her budget. Parts of the media stigmatize young people, as shown by a Daily Mail headline about anxiety and benefit exemptions. The employment charity Rise Up reports assisting 120 young people into work and observing many move from prolonged unemployment into sickness and disability benefits.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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