This report from the Youth Employment Group claims that reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) to the same levels as the Netherlands could generate £69 billion.
More than 790,000 young people are currently NEET, a 23% rise over the last two years. This equates to 12.5% of all British young people across the UK, a figure that rises to 13.8% when looking at England alone. The YEG points to The Netherlands, the country with the lowest figure in the OECD (4.4%).
In a bid to reduce unemployment and protect the life chances of young people, the YEG says that if adopted by policymakers in England, young people under the age of 25 will receive support to access employment, training or education within four months of leaving employment or formal education.
By failing to implement a young person’s guarantee to date, England is falling behind the standards of other developed nations. Acording to the YEG, 81% of UK adults (81% in England) support the idea that young people should receive support from the government to start work, training or education within four months of becoming unemployed or leaving education.
Some 43% of people who voted Conservative at the last General Election believed that the government should do more to help young people into work. The figure rises to 71% among Labour voters and stands at 57% for all voters.