Neets figures on the rise

The amount of young people not in education, employment or in training (neet) has reached a record high, according to new government figures.

Statistics released by the department for children, school and families show that the proportion of neet 16- to 24-year-olds in England rose from 13.6 per cent to 15.6 per cent over the first three months of 2009.

There are now 935,000 16- to 24-year-old neets in England, up from 810,000 at the end of last year, and the proportion of 18-24-year-old neets is 17.6 per cent , and the figure is likely to have got worse since the recession.

David Willetts, the shadow universities secretary, said: Nearly 1 million young people are not in education, employment or training.

This is shocking evidence that young people are indeed the victims of Labour's recession.

Going further, a spokesperson for ClickAJob called the figures a serious indictment of Labour's 'Education, Education, Education' policy.

Most companies need replacement staff even in a recession, he pointed out. And their basic need is for youngsters to be literate, numerate and trainable.

Despite lowering pass marks to boost exam results, Labour can't even get that right - with the result that companies are hiring more experienced staff whose skills are real instead of make-believe.

To compensate, young people seriously wanting a job need additional qualities they can point to that make them stand out, he continued.

In the real world, initiative and self-discipline gained on the sports field, or a social networking flair for handling people, is a far better advantage for clinching a job than fairy-tale GCSEs.

A spokeswoman for the department for business, innovation and skills defended the rise by saying that there are more 18-24-year-olds working or in full time education that when Labour came to power in 1997.

The news comes as a new report from the Centre for Cities founds that long-term youth unemployment will almost treble, between now and the end of 2011.