NUMBER OF YOUNG PEOPLE OUT OF WORK JUMPS TO HIGHEST SINCE PANDEMIC

The number of young adults outside of education, employment or training and not seeking jobs rose to the highest number since the start of the pandemic, adding to strains on the labor market.

So called NEETs aged 18 to 24 who were also economically inactive rose by 118,000 from a year ago to 447,000 in the second quarter, the Office for National Statistics said Thursday. The percentage of all NEETs fell to 0.6% below pre-pandemic levels.

The figures underscore the lack of workers to take on near-record levels of vacancies since lockdown rules were loosened. The Bank of England is concerned labor shortages are contributing to inflation, which may peak above 13% this year.

Outside the Labor Market

Inactivity numbers hit highest since start of Covid pandemichttps://www.bloomberg.com/toaster/v2/charts/5be7cbaed3f64dbaafa7d8fdd3ebd3c8.html?brand=markets&webTheme=markets&web=true&hideTitles=true

Source: Office for National Statistics

Young people who dropped out of the jobs market in the pandemic are one groups yet to return to work in big numbers. People older than 50 also left employment, many of them due to lingering illnesses. 

The figures on NEETs are concerning because “the longer young people are out of work, the more likely they are to drop out of the labor market altogether,” Stephen Evans, chief executive officer of the Learning and Work Institute wrote in a research paper last month.  

Source – Celia Bergin @ Bloomberg