One in eight young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training, a crisis that Alan Milburn, the government’s jobs adviser and a former Labour health secretary, has warned is trapping a generation in worklessness and risks creating an “economic catastrophe”. His interim report, commissioned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer last November and due for publication next week, examines why nearly one million 16- to 24-year-olds have become what is officially classified as Neets – a cohort that now stands at 957,000, or 12.8% of the age group, according to the latest official data from the final quarter of 2025. While that figure is a slight drop from the previous year, it remains close to its highest level since 2014 and has been rising steadily since 2021.
The scale of the problem
More than half of these young people have never held a job, and a quarter are classed as unable to work because of long-term sickness or disability. Of that group, 43% say mental health problems are the primary reason they cannot work – a dramatic rise from 24% in 2011. The UK now has roughly double the proportion of Neets as Japan or Ireland, and three times as many as the Netherlands, the government has said. The consequences are lasting: unemployment before the age of 23 has been linked to lower wages even two decades later. Official figures also show that 44% of Neets now report a work-limiting health condition, up from 26% in 2015, with more men than women falling into the category, often because of long-term sickness or disability.
Mental health and social media: the “bedroom generation”
Milburn’s report is expected to identify a “rising tide of mental ill-health, anxiety, depression and neurodiversity” as the central driver of economic inactivity. He describes the cohort as a “bedroom generation” – young people living in their bedrooms, always online, never off. “They are on all the time, they’re never off,” Milburn told the Times. “[Social media] is leading to some evidence of functional impairment, changing their sleep patterns, concentration levels. That is having an impact on their ability to work.” The report argues that young people’s brains have been “rewired” by smartphones and that they have grown up in a digital world that has fundamentally altered how they communicate, form relationships and manage stress. “They are different, not worse, not lazier, not less intelligent,” the report will say. “They have fewer experiences of workplaces and they present with higher levels of anxiety and depression.”
Milburn insists this is not a “soft generation” or a collection of “snowflakes”. “It is an anxious generation,” he said. The scale of the mental health crisis among young people is stark. According to NHS figures, more than 78,000 young people were waiting over a year for mental health treatment in 2023/24, with 44% of those waiting more than two years – delays that often cause conditions to deteriorate. Among 18- to 24-year-olds, mental health is a major workplace issue: they are nearly eight times more likely than older colleagues to report poor mental health caused by work, and over a third have considered leaving their job because of it. Mental health conditions are now the single largest cause of work-related ill health in Britain, with 964,000 workers suffering from work-related stress, depression or anxiety in 2024/25.
Social media amplifies the problem. A US study found that 68% of girls reported negative experiences on social networking sites, and around one in five young people in the UK have experienced cyberbullying, which is constant and pervasive. Comparison culture and the fear of missing out drive feelings of inadequacy, low self-esteem and anxiety. Milburn’s report links excessive screen time directly to functional impairment: 85% of 8- to 16-year-olds with a probable mental health condition experience regular sleep disruption, rising to 96% for those aged 17 to 23. Daily social media use is now near-universal among the young, with 91% of 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK using platforms every day, and children aged 5 to 15 spending an average of five hours and 24 minutes per day on them.
Systemic failures: education and welfare as a pipeline to worklessness
Peter Hyman, a former headteacher and adviser to both Tony Blair and Keir Starmer, has described schools as a “pipeline to worklessness”, arguing that the education system fails to prepare young people for the job market and neglects mental health and bullying. He spoke of a “rejection economy” in which young people are let down by educators, employers and social media companies alike. Hyman, who has called for a ban on social media for under-16s as part of radical reform, said the “snowflake” label is a mischaracterisation: young people are “being failed by government and the state”.
Milburn’s report is expected to criticise the welfare system for trapping young people on benefits. He has said the state spends significantly more on welfare – £25 for every £1 spent on employment support – than on helping people into work, calling it a “shameful” failure. “The system is trapping people in worklessness rather than enabling them into work,” he told the Times. “We’re at risk of just writing a whole generation off.” The welfare and employment systems, he argues, were built for a different generation and are now outdated.
Proposed solutions: employer adaptation and government investment
Milburn insists businesses must adapt to the reality of this anxious generation. His report will call for more flexibility and mental health support in the workplace, warning that employers need to offer “a high level of pastoral care” for young people experiencing mental distress. Research shows that 18- to 24-year-olds are significantly more likely than older colleagues to report poor mental health because of a lack of psychological safety at work, with 78% saying it reduces their motivation and nearly a third avoiding honest feedback to their manager. Employers who build psychological safety see stronger retention and higher productivity, the briefing notes.
At the same time, Milburn is expected to argue that Neets could present a solution for British businesses struggling to find skilled labour, particularly as net migration has fallen sharply. Official figures released on Thursday showed net migration dropped to 171,000 last year, compared with a peak of 891,000 in 2022 – the lowest since 2012, excluding the pandemic. The fall is driven by a 47% drop in non-EU nationals arriving for work-related reasons, and EU net migration has been negative since 2022.
The government has already responded. In March 2026, it announced a £1 billion employment drive aimed at creating 200,000 jobs and apprenticeships. The package includes a Youth Jobs Grant of £3,000 for businesses hiring 18- to 24-year-olds who have been unemployed for six months or more, a £2,000 apprenticeship incentive for small and medium-sized enterprises taking on new 16- to 24-year-old employees, and an expanded Jobs Guarantee offering a six-month role to Universal Credit claimants up to age 24 who have been unemployed for 18 months. Prime Minister Starmer said the government is “determined to tackle the rise in youth unemployment by expanding practical routes into work, boosting apprenticeships, and giving employers the clarity they need”. Starmer has also proposed an “ambitious youth experience scheme” to allow young people to work, study and live in Europe as part of post-Brexit rebuilding of relations.
Milburn’s own historical perspective is instructive. The “New Deal” for young unemployed people, a flagship policy under Tony Blair’s government launched in 1998, was initially credited with reducing long-term youth unemployment but later analysis suggested it created a “revolving door” back onto benefits. The Tony Blair Institute is now advising caution on minimum wage increases for under-21s and suggesting a tiered employment-protection regime. The current crisis, Milburn has warned, could be worse than the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis, with the cost of living placing a strain on young people’s mental health – 90% worry about earning enough to support themselves. “We’re at a risk of just writing a whole generation off,” he said.
