Andy Burnham said this morning how seriously he takes Alan Milburn’s review of youth unemployment. If that’s true, he should pay close attention to one of its most important findings: the cost of employment is standing in the way of businesses hiring young people.
Since Labour came to power they have put up the cost of hiring young people by thousands. So it should be no surprise that youth unemployment has gone up by 100,000. There are now more than one million NEETs – young people not in employment, education or training.
They are all stuck at home at the very moment in their lives when they should be setting out in the world. Yet their stories are very different.
Two weeks ago, I hosted ten young people in Parliament to talk about their experience of looking for work.
One of them was Aryn. She completed five years of physician associate training and has submitted hundreds of job applications – not just in healthcare but also in retail and hospitality. Despite being qualified, motivated and determined, she has only been able to find part-time work in domiciliary care.
Then there is Daniel. He was sixteen when the pandemic hit and never properly returned to school after lockdown. He is autistic, has no qualifications, limited transport options and now spends much of his time at home. His mother worries about what comes next.
These are very different stories, but they highlight two sides of the same challenge.
Until recently, the focus was largely on people like Daniel: young people facing significant personal challenges that made it difficult to engage with work or education. Today, a second problem is becoming increasingly clear. More young people like Aryn are struggling too – qualified, ambitious and willing to work, but unable to find opportunities.
That shift matters. The challenge is no longer only about helping young people overcome individual difficulties. It is also about making sure there are enough jobs for those who are ready and willing to do them.
Businesses need confidence that if they take on another employee, open a new site or enter a new market, government will not immediately make that decision harder or more expensive
In other words, employment requires two things: somebody willing to work and somebody willing to hire. Increasingly, the second half of that equation is being ignored.
Young people like Daniel may need additional support to overcome challenges such as a disrupted education, lack of qualifications or missed opportunities like work experience.
But support alone is not enough. We can help young people prepare for work, build their skills and improve their confidence, but those efforts only succeed if there are opportunities at the end of them.
Because both Daniel and Aryn ultimately need the same thing: a job.
So, for all our discussion about helping young people into work, you cannot solve youth unemployment without jobs for them to go into.
Over the past two decades Britain has lost around 1.6 million lower and middle-skilled jobs, while 6.3 million more highly skilled jobs have been created. Young people are overrepresented in the jobs that have declined and underrepresented in those that have increased.
Many traditional entry-level roles – Saturday jobs, weekend shifts, admin positions – have disappeared through automation, offshoring and technological change. These were the roles through which generations of young people built confidence, experience and employability. At the same time, graduate recruitment is weakening: in 2025 there were a third fewer positions advertised than in 2024.
The outgoing Prime Minister cannot escape responsibility. He inherited a labour market already under pressure. Yet he still decided to increase employer National Insurance Contributions, equalise the National Living Wage and introduce more employment regulation. These political choices have made businesses more selective and more cautious. Faced with an experienced worker and a young person with little workplace history, many employers understandably choose the safer option.
The result: around 700,000 young people unemployed, with youth unemployment rising sharply to over 16%.
Behind these statistics are real people. Something Aryn said at my roundtable sticks in my mind: ‘It’s so hard to have hope.’ For both the Aryn’s and Daniel’s of this world that is now the reality.
This Government’s response has been underwhelming. Ministers commissioned Alan Milburn to produce his diagnostic report – 200 pages of evidence and analysis. But Britain does not have a shortage of reports. It has a shortage of decisions.
We must take action, and we should start with growth – so that businesses can create more job opportunities for young people.
We must make Britain a more attractive place to hire, invest and expand. Businesses need confidence that if they take on another employee, open a new site or enter a new market, government will not immediately make that decision harder or more expensive. Most jobs are not created by government. They are created by businesses taking risks and growing.
Only then can we turn our attention to the other side of the equation: preparing young people for the jobs of today and tomorrow.
That means confronting uncomfortable truths about skills and education. For years, Britain pushed more young people towards university while neglecting vocational and technical pathways. The result is a growing mismatch between the qualifications many young people hold and the skills employers need. Too many leave education with degrees that do not lead to jobs, while employers struggle to recruit electricians, engineers, technicians and care workers. Apprenticeships need to be easier to offer. Technical education needs the same status as the university route.
We also need to be honest about welfare.
The number of young people claiming sickness-related benefits has risen sharply, particularly for mental health conditions. Many face genuine challenges. But we should not accept a system that writes off young people in their late teens and early twenties and leaves them sitting at home indefinitely. For most people, having a job, a routine and a sense of purpose is better than being disconnected from society altogether.
None of this is easy. It means challenging the status quo, winning difficult arguments and recognising that some of the answers are uncomfortable.
But if we are serious about tackling the NEETs crisis, we need to be prepared to have those debates.
Skills matter. Education matters. Welfare matters. But without jobs to go into, none of them can fulfil their purpose. Our next prime minister must get this.
Until we get Britain growing again, back the businesses that create employment and rebuild the first rung of the ladder into work, ever more young people will find themselves shut out of the opportunities that previous generations took for granted.
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