NEET

Since 2015, all young people aged under 18 in England must be in some sort of training, whether that is in a more academic setting or alongside employment. The data used to look at young adults not in education, employment or training (NEET) therefore cover the 18-24 age group, rather than the 16-24 group previously used elsewhere.

The proportion of young adults that are NEET fell between 2013 and 2015, but then stabilised, and fell as more young people stayed on in education during the coronavirus pandemic, although unemployment rates among young people were higher. Most of the time during and since the recession resulting from the financial crisis, there have generally been fewer of London’s 18-24 year olds who are NEET than across England as a whole, reversing the position of the previous decade, though from 2018 the difference has been small.