In the United Kingdom, 1 million Neets, completely inactive young people

“It’s a damning description of the world of work that young people face.†Like the liberal daily The Times, the British press is alarmed by the conclusions of a report on the inactivity of 16-24 year olds published on May 28. In total, around 1 million people in this age group – unheard of since 2013 – fall into the Neet category (for Not in education, employment or training, “Neither at school, nor in working life, nor in apprenticeship†). “This represents one in eight young people, précise The Guardian. In 2025, only Romania was doing worse on a European scale.â€

The document, commissioned by the Labor government, sketches the portrait of a “generation that risks being lost†, in the words of its author, Alan Milburn, former Minister of Health under Tony Blair. “Each paragraph underlines the structural nature of these problems and brushes aside the hypothesis of a lazy or overprotected generation, analyzes the left-wing daily. Most of the barriers actually arise from economic, geographic and ethnic inequalities.†Criticized by the conservative press, the increase in the minimum wage for young people, decided by Labor in 2024 in parallel with a strengthening of labor law, would only have a slight effect on professional integration