Analysis of the latest trends are provided in the sections below. The following supplementary tables provide the headline figures. You can explore the data further and build your own tables with our online table tool builder from the “Explore data and files” section above.
NEET age 16 to 24
This is the latest data
- Published
- Last updated
See all updates (1) for Calendar year 2023
Added age 18-21 underlying data file and featured table
- Release type
- Receive updates
- Sign up for email alerts
- Produced by
- Department for Education
Introduction
Estimates from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) in England.
ONS have faced challenges around the falling number of responses to the LFS, which has led to increased sampling variability.
As a result of the lower sample sizes and 15 months of reweighted LFS data available, this release for England does not include estimates for single ages, region, nor breakdowns of labour market status for grouped ages other than the overall 16-24 age group. Users should be mindful of the greater uncertainty in these estimates, and we would advise caution when interpreting short-term changes.
This increase in the volatility in the estimates of employment, unemployment, and economic inactivity led to ONS suspending the usual suite of LFS-based labour market statistics from October 2023 through to January 2024, while further improvements were implemented to tackle some of these challenges, including a review of the LFS weighting approach. Data has been reweighted from July 2022 onwards which has led to a discontinuity in the timeseries and comparisons of levels prior to this period should be viewed with caution. Full details of the reweighting can be found here: Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey key indicators - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab).
ONS expect to see improvements to response levels and rates because of the reintroduction of face-to-face interviews and a sample boost in October 2023 and January 2024, respectively; however, as these improvements will take time to materialise in the LFS data, LFS statistics will be badged as "official statistics in development" until further review.
Headline facts and figures - 2023
Explore data and files used in this release
View or create your own tables
View tables that we have built for you, or create your own tables from open data using our table tool
Data catalogue
Browse and download open data files from this release in our data catalogue
Data guidance
Learn more about the data files used in this release using our online guidance
Download all data (ZIP)
Download all data available in this release as a compressed ZIP file
Supplementary tables
About these statistics
In addition to the volatility of LFS estimates due to sample sizes, there has also been a reweighting exercise. Therefore small differences may be seen when comparing to previously published rates. The new reweighted LFS estimates incorporates latest estimates of the size and composition of the UK population, improving the representativeness of LFS estimates. However, due to time constraints, the ONS have only been able to reweight LFS data from July 2022 onwards. Therefore, this reweighting exercise creates a discontinuity at this point and comparisons before this point should be made with caution. For more information about the reweighting exercise please see here: Impact of reweighting on Labour Force Survey (opens in a new tab)
These statistics are based on quarterly Labour Force Survey (LFS) (opens in a new tab) data. They provide estimates of young people: not in education, employment or training (NEET) and not in education or training (NET).
The NEET and NET rates both capture young people who are not in education or training. However, NEET also captures those young people not in employment. Employment has a larger impact on NEET rates for those post compulsory education age (18+) as many are active in the labour market.
These statistics cover 16-24 year olds in England, together with other age breakdowns within that bracket e.g. 16-17 and 18-24 year olds. Estimates are based on academic age, defined as ‘age at the start of the academic year’ i.e. age as at 31 August. They also include some breakdowns by:
- sex
- labour market status (in employment, unemployed, inactive)
These statistics should be used to see latest trends in NEET rates for 16-24 year olds. Trends are assessed by comparing the latest quarter’s data with the same period in an earlier year to account for seasonal effects.
Data is provided up to and including October to December 2023.
As quarter four (October to December) 2023 is the latest data available and the first full quarter of the 2023/24 academic year, commentary in this release focuses mainly on this quarter.
See 'Other NEET sources' section for further information on related statistics on:
- Participation in education, training and employment for 16-18 year olds (opens in a new tab)
- Local authority NEET and participation for 16/17 year olds (opens in a new tab)
- UK Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates of NEET for 16-24 year olds (opens in a new tab)
Feedback
We would welcome feedback on any aspect of this publication at Post16.STATISTICS@education.gov.uk.
Not in education, employment or training (NEET) rates by age
Between October to December 2022 and 2023, the proportion NEET is estimated to have:
- Decreased for the 16-24 age group to 11.9%, down 0.5 percentage points from 12.3%. This is not a statistically significant decrease and confidence intervals suggest that the true rate for 2023 lies between 10.6% to 13.1%.
- Decreased for the 16-17 age group to 4.1%, down 0.6 percentage points from 4.7%. This is not a statistically significant decrease and the true rate for 2023 is likely to be between 2.6% to 5.5%.
- Decreased for the 18-24 age group to 14.2%, down 0.3 percentage points from 14.6%. This is not a statistically significant decrease and the true rate for 2023 is likely to be between 12.5% to 15.9%.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, NEET rates have fluctuated. However, due to sample size and the series discontinuity a longer time series is required to determine post-Covid-19 trends and draw conclusions about any sustained changes in the choices being made by young people.
Note: comparisons to periods earlier than October to December 2022 should be made with caution as quarter 4 data earlier than this, has not been reweighted.
The proportion NEET varies by age:
All estimates should be viewed alongside associated 95% confidence intervals as shown in the table.
Ages 16-17
- Since 2013, those aged 16 and 17 are required to remain in education or training (under Raising Participation Age (RPA) legislation) and therefore have a lower estimated NEET rate than those aged over 18 of 4.1%.
- Looking at the historic timeseries, NEET at age 16-17 peaked in 2005 at 9.2%, after which there was a downward trend until 2021.
Ages 18-24
- Those aged 18-24, who won’t be subject to RPA, have a higher estimated NEET rate which in 2023 was 14.2%.
- Many of the 18-24 age group are no longer in education and are instead in the labour market. During a recession, less economic activity takes place and so there are fewer jobs available and more redundancies, increasing the number NEET. The 18-24 NEET rate increased to the series peak of 18.5% in 2011 following the 2008 recession.
- Looking at the historic timeseries, there was a general fall in age 18-24 NEET rate following the 2011 peak. In 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic an increase in NEET rates for these older ages was seen.
In addition to the trends noted above for compulsory and non-compulsory participation age :
- For age group 16-18, the NEET rate has fallen to 6.3%, down 2.1 percentage points. This annual change is statistically significant, which means we are confident that there is a decrease in the population NEET rate based on analysis of this sample from the Labour Force Survey. However, please note previous cautions with LFS survey data and the volatility of estimates.
- There has been an increase in the NEET rate for the oldest age range 19-24 to 14.8%, up 0.4 percentage points from 14.3% at end of 2022.
| NEET rate by age, England, October to December 2022-2023 | ||||
| Academic age (age as at 31st August) | Oct to Dec 2022 | Oct to Dec 2023 | 95% confidence interval for Oct to Dec 2023 (percentage limits) | Annual change from Oct-Dec 2022 to 2023 (percentage points, statistically significant changes in bold) |
| Ages 16-17 | 4.7% | 4.1% | (+/-1.4) 2.6% - 5.5% | -0.6pp |
| Ages 16-18 | 8.4% | 6.3% | (+/-1.5) 4.8% - 7.8% | -2.1pp |
| Ages 18-24 | 14.6% | 14.2% | (+/-1.7) 12.5% - 15.9% | -0.3pp |
| Ages 19-24 | 14.3% | 14.8% | (+/-1.9) 12.9% - 16.7% | 0.4pp |
| Ages 16-24 | 12.3% | 11.9% | (+/-1.3) 10.6% - 13.1% | -0.5pp |
Not in education or training (NET) rates by age
Between October to December 2022 and 2023, the estimated proportion NET:
- Increased for the overall 16-24 age group to 41.6%, up 0.6 percentage points from 41.0%. This is not a statistically significant increase and confidence intervals suggest that the true rate for 2023 lies between 39.7% to 43.6.%.
- Increased for the 16-17 age group to 7.6%, up 1.2 percentage points from 6.5%. This is not a statistically significant increase and the true rate for 2023 is likely to be between 5.7% to 9.5%.
- Increased for the 18-24 age group to 52.0%, up 1.0 percentage points from 51.0%. This is not a statistically significant increase and the true rate for 2023 is likely to be between 49.6% to 54.4%.
Since the COVID-19 pandemic, NET rates have fluctuated. However, due to sample size and the series discontinuity a longer time series is required to determine post-Covid-19 trends and draw conclusions about any sustained changes in the choices being made by young people.
Note: comparisons to periods earlier than October to December 2022 should be made with caution as quarter 4 data earlier than this, has not been reweighted.
The proportion NET varies by age:
All estimates should be considered alongside associated 95% confidence intervals as shown in the table.
Ages 16-17
- Young people ages 16 and 17 are required to remain in education or training (under RPA legislation). Latest estimates show that since last year, a higher proportion of 16 and 17 year olds are not participating in education or training.
- Between October to December 2022 and 2023, the first quarter of the 2023/24 academic year, the proportion of 16-17 year olds not in education or training (NET) increased by 1.2 percentage points to an estimated 7.6% from 6.5% at end 2022.
Ages 18-24
- Those aged 18-24, who are not subject to RPA, have a much higher NET rate. In 2023 the NET rate estimate for 18-24 year olds was estimated to be 52.0% , an increase of 1.0 percentage points from 51.0% in 2022.
In addition to the trends noted above for compulsory and non-compulsory participation age :
- At the end of 2023 for ages 16-18 there was an estimated decrease in the NET rate of 2.0 percentage points to 12.8%, therefore a higher proportion of this combined group were participating in education or training compared to last year.
| NET rate by age, England, October to December 2022-2023 | ||||
| Academic age (age as at 31st August) | Oct to Dec 2022 | Oct to Dec 2023 | 95% confidence interval for Oct to Dec 2023 (percentage limits) | Annual change from Oct-Dec 2022 to 2023 (percentage points, statistically significant changes in bold) |
| Ages 16-17 | 6.5% | 7.6% | (+/-1.9) 5.7% - 9.5% | 1.2pp |
| Ages 16-18 | 14.9% | 12.8% | (+/-2.0) 10.8% - 14.9% | -2.0pp |
| Ages 18-24 | 51.0% | 52.0% | (+/-2.4) 49.6% - 54.4% | 1.0pp |
| Ages 19-24 | 54.3% | 56.7% | (+/-2.7) 54.1% - 59.4% | 2.5pp |
| Ages 16-24 | 41.0% | 41.6% | (+/-2.0) 39.7% - 43.6% | 0.6pp |
Overall activity and reasons NEET
This section aims to summarise the drivers for the annual changes in NEET and NET rates by focussing on changes in the proportions in:
- education and training
- employment
- and for those who are NEET whether they are unemployed or economically inactive
Due to large differences in these rates between those of compulsory school age (16-17) and those age 18-24 who are more likely to be in the labour market, analysis at these ages are included below.
Please note, due to small sample sizes, breakdowns of NEET labour market status i.e. inactive and unemployed are only provided for the combined ages 16-24. All estimates should be viewed alongside associated 95% confidence intervals as shown in the underlying data.
- At ages 16-24 an estimated increase of those in employment has resulted in fewer young people recorded as NEET, with proportions inactive remaining stable. There has been a slight fall in the proportion in education or training but this has been offset by the increase in employment of this cohort.
- At ages 16/17, despite a fall in the proportion estimated to be in education or training, the NEET rate has decreased due to an increase of those in employment. The proportion of those not in education and training but in employment has risen from 1.8% in 2022 to 3.6% in 2023, this is a statistically significant change . This means that of those who are not in education or training, nearly half are now in employment.
- At ages 18-24 there has been a fall in the proportion estimated to be in education or training, however an increase in the NET employment rate has offset this fall and overall the NEET rate has decreased.
Looking in more detail at the reasons NEET, including unemployment duration and reasons for economic inactivity (figure 4):
Unemployment:
Of the overall 16-24 population, in 2023 4.4% were estimated to be NEET due to being unemployed with:
- 3.0% being unemployed for less than 6 months, 0.6 percentage points lower than in 2022.
- 1.3% being long term unemployed (more than 6 months), stable compared with end 2022.
Economic inactivity (People who have not been looking for work and/or who are not available to start work):
Of the overall 16-24 population, in 2023 7.5% were estimated to be NEET and economically inactive, the same proportion as in 2022. Reasons for inactivity were reported as:
- 3.2% illness , stable compared with end 2022.
- 1.5% looking after family/home, stable compared with end 2022.
- 2.8% other reason (which will include those waiting for education or employment to start or not wanting to participate), stable compared with end 2022.
NEET rate by sex (overall age 16-24)
All estimates should be viewed alongside associated 95% confidence intervals as shown in the underlying data.
In the latest year:
- Female NEET rate is estimated to be 11.5%, a decrease of 0.4 percentage points. This is not a statistically significant decrease and confidence intervals suggest that the true female NEET rate for 2023 lies between 9.7% to 13.4%.
- Male NEET rate has also decreased to an estimated 12.2%, 0.6 percentage point lower than last year. This is not a statistically significant decrease and confidence intervals suggest that the true male NEET rate for 2023 lies between 10.3% to 14.0%.
Labour market status by sex:
In the latest year the estimated proportion of the 16-24 population:
- Short-term unemployment has decreased for both males and females. The total percentage of 16-24 males who were unemployed for less than 6 months is 3.5% in 2023, a decrease of 0.5 percentage points. For females the 2023 percentage is 2.5%, a decrease of 0.7 percentage points on the previous year.
- Who were inactive has remained relatively stable for both males and females. The only change of note can be seen for males who gave their reason for inactivity as ‘other’ (which will include those waiting for education or employment to start or not wanting to participate) ,which decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 3.2% in 2023.
There are however some differences by sex in the main reason for being NEET:
- Females are still more likely to be NEET due to ‘looking after family/home’ than males (2.6% compared with 0.4% of their respective populations).
- A higher proportion of males are unemployed than females (5.3% compared with 3.5% of their respective populations).
Health of 16-24 population and those NEET (Annual Population Survey)
The following analysis uses Annual Population Survey (APS) data covering the twelve month period from October to September for the years 2012 to 2023. Due to larger sample sizes in the APS we use this data when looking at specific groups in the population.
To note, APS data has not currently been reweighted and therefore comparisons can be made across the timeseries. It does not however cover any period of the 2023/24 academic year.
Overall NEET rate estimates are comparable using the APS and LFS when comparing the same 12 month period.
For Oct 22-Sep 23:
- The APS NEET rate for 16-24 year olds was 12.4%
- The LFS four quarter average for the same period was 12.2%
The headline rate in this release of 11.9% is the LFS quarter 4 2023 rate (first three months of academic year 2023/24). This period is not covered by the following APS analysis. NEET rates are seasonal with higher rates typically in the summer. LFS quarter 4 is used for the main headline measures as this is the first data available for the latest academic year. Because of the seasonality in the data (see section on seasonal effects) trends can differ between the annual APS and single quarter estimates from the LFS.
Figure 7 shows the overall APS NEET rate over time compared to the proportion of NEETs with a health condition, which may contribute to their reason for being NEET.
Data shows that although the overall NEET rate is lower than at the start of the series, proportionally more NEETs are reported to have a health condition in recent years.
In 2023 those NEET were estimated to be nearly twice as likely to have a health condition compared to the overall 16-24 population. For those NEET, the rate of 46.9% is one of the highest in the series and for the overall population the rate of 26.7% is the highest in the series (see figure 8).
Over the last decade this increase has been largely due to increases in the proportion of young people reporting a mental health condition. However in recent years this has fallen slightly and those reporting a non-mental health condition has seen an increase.
In the latest year:
- The proportion of those 16-24 NEET with a mental health condition has fallen (by 0.8 percentage points to 19.5%).
- Despite this fall, estimates in 2023 show that nearly 1 in 5 of those NEET currently have a mental health condition compared with 1 in 13 in 2012. The conditions reported for mental health include depression, bad nerves, anxiety, mental illness, or suffering from phobia, panics or other nervous disorders.
- The proportion of those NEET with a non-mental health condition has increased by 0.5 percentage points from last year, following an upwards trajectory since 2017. It is now at its highest rate in the series with 27.5% of NEETs reporting a non-mental health condition (the full list of non-mental health conditions can be found in the methodology).
Type of health condition 16-24 NEETs
Figure 9 shows the type of health condition reported by 16-24 NEETs and how the proportion varies over time.
In the latest year:
- Most types of health conditions are over-represented for those NEET when compared to the total 16-24 population.
- NEET with a mental health condition is estimated to be two and half times the rate in 2012, 19.5% compared with 7.7%
- Those with learning difficulties, which includes those with autism, make up an estimated 10.6% of the NEET population. Despite the definition of learning difficulties changing in 2020, there has been a year on year increase for the last few years suggesting an upward trend.
Seasonal effects
NEET rates exhibit seasonal patterns that tend to reflect the academic year: typically there are lower rates in autumn (October to December) followed by a gradual rise in spring and early summer (January to June) with a peak in late summer (July to September).
Figure 10 below shows the quarterly NEET estimates since 2010 and demonstrates these seasonal effects.
Other NEET sources
Users should be aware that figures for young people who are NEET and NET are published in other statistics releases. The table below provides a summary of the four related releases and gives information on their content.
| Title | Participation in education, training and employment | NEET aged 16 to 24 | Young people NEET | Local authority NEET and participation |
| Producer | Department for Education | Department for Education | Office for National Statistics | Department for Education |
| Status | Accredited Official Statistics | Official Statistics in Development | Accredited Official Statistics | Transparency data |
| Age range | 16-18 | 16-24 | 16-24 | 16-17 |
| Age type | Academic age[1] | Academic age[1] | Actual age | Academic age[1] |
| Country | England | England | UK | England |
| Regional breakdowns | No | Yes [2] | No | Yes |
| LA breakdown | No | No | No | Yes |
| Data type | Mostly administrative | Survey | Survey | Management information |
| Frequency of publication | Annually | Annually | Quarterly | Annually |
| Seasonally adjusted | No | No | Yes | No |
| When to use?[3] | England NEET (and participation) figures, age 16-18 | England/regional [2] NEET figures, age 16-24 (includes reasons NEET) | UK NEET figures, age 16-24 (published quarterly so often most timely) | LA/regional NEET (and participation) figures, age 16-17 (includes pupil characteristics) |
[1] Academic age is defined as ‘age at the start of the academic year’ i.e. age as at 31 August. Actual age is defined as ‘respondents age at the time surveyed’.
[2] Regional breakdowns are usually included in the NEET aged 16 to 24 release. However for the 2023 publication regional breakdowns have not been included due to the small sample size.
[3] Left to right indicates recommended order of preference in which the statistics should be used based on most users’ needs and robustness of the data.
Participation in education, training and employment
Participation in education, training and employment statistics are DfE’s (Department for Education’s) definitive statistics on participation, NEET and NET for the 16-18 age group. As these estimates are based on administrative data, they are considered the most robust available. The estimates relate to a snapshot of activities at the end of the calendar year,
DfE’s October to December NEET/NET estimates using the Labour Force Survey (usually published February/March each year) are indicative of the end of year NEET/NET figures in the Participation release (usually published June each year). Figure 11 below shows how estimates from the two sources have compared since 2000.
In 2020 and 2021 there was more divergence between rates for LFS data and Participation data. This may have been as a result of differences in reporting methods during the COVID-19 pandemic. LFS data is survey data where NEET/NET status is self-reported by the young person, whereas the Participation release uses administrative data, reported by institutions.
For 2022, the difference in the NET rate has narrowed and the NEET rate is the same for both sources. A longer time series will help identify if rates are becoming more comparable again in the long term.
The next Participation statistics, covering the period end 2023, are scheduled to be published in summer 2024.
Local authority NEET and participation
Age 16-17 regional and local authority NEET estimates (opens in a new tab) are published annually by DfE as transparency data. Figures on NEETs are provided as an average of December, January and February. This information comes from local authorities NCCIS systems (National Client Caseload Information System).
Similar to the trend seen in figure 11, NEET rates for young people aged 16 to 17 (figure 12) shows divergence across the different NEET sources for the years 2020 and 2021. However for 2022, the difference across the sources in the NEET rate for 16 to 17 year olds has narrowed and the rates from the Participation release and NCCIS collection now lie within the confidence intervals for the LFS estimate. A longer time series will be required to assess whether or not this is a new pattern and if rates across the sources are becoming more comparable.
Some caution should be taken if using the NCCIS figures. This is due to the estimates being based on management information which means they are not produced to the same standards as official statistics. Also, the NCCIS figures include ‘not known’ activity, which results in some overestimation of NEET, as can be seen in the chart when comparing the NCCIS figures to the LFS and participation figures.
The proportion of those aged 16/17 whose activities are ‘not known’ varies at local authority/regional level and between years so particular caution should be taken when making geographic and/or time-series comparisons.
Young People NEET (ONS)
Users should also be aware of the ONS (Office for National Statistics) release: Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK - Office for National Statistics (ons.gov.uk) (opens in a new tab)
Whilst they are based on the same quarterly LFS data, the NEET and NET figures in the DfE release differ from those in the ONS release due to coverage and methodological differences as shown in the “Other NEET sources” table above.
The headline ONS figures are seasonally adjusted whilst the DfE figures are not and this accounts for most of the differences. The respective use of academic age (DfE) and actual age (ONS) has little impact at overall age 16-24 (but is more notable at the younger 16/17 age group). Whilst the ONS and DfE figures are based on UK and England respectively, this only accounts for a small degree of variation as the UK figures are primarily driven by England.
The ONS seasonally adjusted 16-24 UK NEET figure for October to December 2023 was 12.0%, compared with the DfE (non-seasonally adjusted) 16-24 England NEET figure of 11.9%, a difference of 0.1 percentage points.
Although these latest estimates are similar, the UK estimate at end 2023 is higher than the end 2022 UK estimate of 11.8% (+0.2pp). In comparison, the England estimate at end 2023 is lower than end 2022 England estimate of 12.3% (-0.4pp).
This difference in the annual change is due to the large variation in the end 2022 estimates between the UK and England. In 2022 the ‘rest of the UK’ 16-24 NEET estimate is lower than England, however in 2023 it is higher. In addition academic age adjustments have had a notable impact. Given the concern around sample sizes and population weighting means caution should be taken in interpreting changes in trends from these data points alone.
Help and support
Methodology
Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.
Official statistics in development
These statistics are undergoing a development. They have been developed under the guidance of the Head of Profession for Statistics and published to involve users and stakeholders at an early stage in assessing their suitability and quality.
They have been produced as far as possible in line with the Code of Practice for Statistics.
This can be broadly interpreted to mean that these statistics are:
- managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
- meet identified user needs
- produced according to sound methods
- well explained and readily accessible
Find out more about the standards we follow to produce these statistics through our Standards for official statistics published by DfE guidance.
Contact us
If you have a specific enquiry about NEET age 16 to 24 statistics and data:
Post-16 statistics team
Email: post16.statistics@education.gov.ukContact name: Lucy Blyth
Press office
If you have a media enquiry:
Telephone: 020 7783 8300
Public enquiries
If you have a general enquiry about the Department for Education (DfE) or education:
Telephone: 037 0000 2288
Opening times:
Monday to Friday from 9.30am to 5pm (excluding bank holidays)