One million youngsters are not in education, training, or work – is it Gen Z’s fault or ours?

As Rachel Reeves prepares for billions in benefits cuts, more young people than ever are relying on the state. Futurologist and generational expert Chloe Combi examines what’s really behind this growing crisis, and the surprisingly simple solutions that could solve it – starting at home

Last week’s release of figures showing that nearly one million people aged 16-24 are Neets (not in education, employment, or training) – representing a rise of 42 per cent in the last three years – made for grim reading. The problem is more pronounced in young men, with 150,000 more male Neets than female. The usual suspects were blamed for this rise in youth economic inactivity: the pandemic, illness and mental health issues, and too few targeted initiatives, often making it difficult for young people who actively want to work to find employment.

Alison McGovern, the employment minister, said she is determined that no one “is left on the scrap-heap” – particularly young people – and there were promises to transform job centres and expand programmes like the Youth Guarantee initiative, which aims to help 18-21-year-olds into work (though, notably, this excludes the 22-24-year-old Neet cohort).

All this sounds promising, but analysis of Neets often misses crucial factors behind why so many young people are so underemployed today.

Some enormous mistakes have been made with our nation’s youth at a time when they should be building the solid foundations of adulthood. One of the most overlooked but critically important issues has been the disappearance of the Saturday or after-school job. Until about a decade ago, a key rite of passage for teenagers was working part-time at weekends or after school or college. The work was rarely glamorous – stacking shelves in a supermarket, making coffee in a café, or, once older, pulling pints in a pub.

Over the last 10-15 years, many of these part-time jobs, traditionally done by teenagers, have either vanished completely or been discouraged by parents or schools for being a distraction. As a result, the opportunities to gain vital work experience, build confidence in applying for jobs, and develop the skills needed to thrive in the workplace have also disappeared.

One of the biggest challenges for both teenagers seeking work and employers willing to hire them is the vast amount of red tape attached to employing under-18s. Take Mark*, for example. Keen to work as a mechanic, at 15, he applied to more than 10 different garages offering to help out. “They all said they’d give me a job in a minute, but they literally weren’t allowed to hire anyone under 16,” he said. And at 16, the problems don’t disappear. Before turning 18, significant legal restrictions remain in place. While these rules were intended to protect young workers, they have also created major barriers, preventing hundreds of thousands of young people from gaining early work experience.

There has also been a big shift in parental attitudes towards teenagers getting work experience. Increasing anxiety over teen autonomy, independence, and the fear of missing vital study time has led many parents to discourage part-time jobs. Kayla, 16, tells me: “Me and all my friends want to get jobs, but most of our parents have stopped us, saying our exams are more important. Plus, a lot of our parents worry about what might happen to us if we worked in a shop or cafe, let alone a bar.”

Legal restrictions, parental anxiety, and an overemphasis on academic success have created a perfect storm. As a result, most 18-year-olds today enter adulthood with little to no work or life experience. This lack of experience is a significant factor behind low confidence, anxiety, and a lack of initiative among this generational cohort – a pattern we are now seeing at a national level as youth unemployment rises.

There’s too much red tape when it comes to employing teenagers (Getty)

Then there’s the generational philosophy of work. Generation Z – and soon Generation Alpha, the oldest of whom are now 14 – are the first true digital natives. They have been raised on a diet of social media, influencers, and new routes to quick fame and fortune, whether by building an online following or making fast cash through cryptocurrency and entrepreneurial schemes.

When you talk to younger Gen Zers and older Gen Alphas, their heroes are no longer footballers, actors, or artists, but entrepreneurs and social media stars like Elon Musk, Logan Paul, and Charli D’Amelio. Young people are also highly aware of those who have made significant money from the darker side of the attention economy, such as controversial manosphere influencer Andrew Tate (who is also accused of multiple alleged crimes, including human trafficking) and OnlyFans creator Lily Phillips.

For millions of young people globally, this entrepreneurial economy seems far more appealing than working in an office, fixing cars, or pulling pints for minimum wage. Thousands are actively rejecting traditional jobs in favour of launching startups, pursuing lucrative crypto schemes, or gaining enough followers on social media to monetise their content.

It is time to reignite their enthusiasm – not with dodgy get-rich-quick schemes or social media charlatans, but with the idea that there is real value in seizing opportunities, taking risks, and embracing the journey to success

Of course, an entrepreneurial mindset can be a great asset – but only if it is backed by strong ideas, as well as the knowledge and experience that can make it sustainable. Many of these aspiring entrepreneurs have the ambition but not the basic work-based skills to succeed. This means some will never get their big ideas off the ground; others will fail at the first hurdle. When that happens, they either lose that ambition or the will to try a traditional job that feels like a poor substitute for the success they had envisioned.

There is also a major disconnect between what young people are learning in school and their own visions of success. Traditional career advice feels outdated, yet nothing truly empowering or relevant has replaced it. For the first time, young people know more about emerging industries (such as digital technology and content creation) than the adults who are meant to be guiding them. Unless the older generation catches up – and young people see the value in developing more traditional skills alongside new ones – we risk a lose-lose situation. If nothing changes, the problem will only get worse.

If we are to move younger generations off benefits and onto a path of professional and economic success, a gear shift needs to happen. Many schools and colleges have suffered severe budget cuts, leaving little room for career guidance or work experience programmes, particularly in the state sector.

Structural reform is needed to help guide the many Neets out of the professional wilderness (Getty)

I speak to countless companies struggling to find and hire young talent, suggesting a serious disconnect between young people and the jobs that need them. We must improve communication between young job seekers and industries looking to recruit. The issue is not just that the majority of 18-year-olds in the UK are reaching adulthood with little or no work experience – it is that many have little or no knowledge of many jobs that exist, let alone how to access them.

As a nation, we are in a state of inertia – and this is often most evident among young people. Five years after Covid, this generation is experiencing epidemic levels of poor mental health and sadness at a time in life that should be full of excitement and promise.

It is time to reignite their enthusiasm – not with dodgy get-rich-quick schemes or social media charlatans, but with the idea that there is real value in seizing opportunities, taking risks, and embracing the journey to success. That first low-paying job or long commute might not seem glamorous, but you never know where it could lead. Many parents need to recognise this just as much as their children do, and the government must do more to facilitate ambition, from wherever it springs.

Structural reform is needed to help guide these nearly one million Neets out of the professional wilderness. But just as importantly, we need a philosophical and cultural shift in how we support and empower our youngest generations.

For young people to gain independence in adulthood, they must first be given personal and professional independence in their teenage years. Babysitting, mowing lawns, waiting tables, and pulling pints – jobs that older generations recall from their youth – may have been more formative and valuable than we ever realised.

*Names have been changed to protect identities