Today, in his Interim Report “Young People and Work”, Labour grandee Alan Milburn, issued a stark warning regarding the impacts of youth inactivity. The UK Youth Unemployment rate ranks amongst the highest in Europe at 16.2% and is at its highest rate for 11 years. Nearly one million 16 - 24 year olds are not in Employment, Education of Training and this level is steadily rising.
The impacts of long-term unemployment in the young are particularly worrying as it is financially unsustainable and does not bode well for any political party.
Failure to get into work or training has dire consequences for the young people themselves, where their future earning capacity remains low, results in poor or non-existent pension contribution and a greater reliance on state welfare. So too, the failure to get into regular employment after leaving school and the impacts of worklessness on health and well-being are well documented.
After just two years in office, Labour has significantly exacerbated this trend. The impact of higher National Insurance contributions, rapid minimum wage increases and tighter labour market regulation have all resulted in employers being disincentivised to recruit younger workers or invest in apprenticeships. The rate of apprenticeships has fallen by a third over this same period.
These impacts were predictable from the outset but ignored by Labour MPs and their policy-makers.
The Telegraph today sums it up well:
“Recommendations are yet to come [in September, we’re told]… and then will the Government actually adopt whatever he suggests?” Labour could not even deliver £5bn of welfare savings last year without internal revolt. All the while, the jobs tax is killing the jobs young people need.”
So what about Cheshire East?
Across Cheshire East, the latest data recording the level of NEETs is far lower for cohorts aged 16-17 years old at approximately 3.6% (August 2025), but of course the NEET category actually extends and is calculated nationally from 16 - 24 years of age. Consequently, rates across the whole Cheshire East cohort in 2026 are likely to be much higher.
This is especially the case where at 21 years of age, most young people have left full-time education at Colleges and Universities. What Milburn’s Report has highlighted is that even young people with good qualifications are being excluded from entering the job market as entry level graduate opportunities ‘dry up’.
This generation of 16-24 year olds have already had to deal with the fall-out of Covid on their education and training journey’s. To now be hit by the double-whammy of the short-sighted fiscal policies of a Labour Government is devastating both for them and this country's socio-economic future.
References:
- Daily Telegraph: (Annabel Densem): “Labour’s Youth Job Jam” (28.05.2026)
3. Proportion of 16 and 17 year olds who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Cheshire East
