Unemployment is bad for anyone, but really hard on the young. That’s because prolonged periods of worklessness in your late teens or early 20s scar you for life. As academic studies have shown, it can cause depression and affect earning potential for years to come. There is a clear link between poor mental health and being unemployed.

That’s why Alan Milburn’s probe into youth unemployment won’t be one of the government-commissioned reports that is quickly filed away and allowed to gather dust. It makes uncomfortable reading for ministers. The number of people aged 16 to 24 not in education, employment or training (Neets) is rising, and the costs of inactivity are increasing. Britain has a jobs problem, and it’s getting worse.

Milburn’s solutions to the issues he has identified in his interim report won’t be out until the autumn, but the trend is worrying. The overall unemployment rate across all age groups is 5%, but for those aged 16-24 it is 16.2% – up from 14.2% a year ago, and one of the highest in Europe.

In March 2026, there were more than one million Neets in the UK, an increase of 89,000 from a year previously. That’s partly due to an increase in the number of young people, but even accounting for demographics, the percentage of Neets aged 16 to 24 had risen from 12.5% in March 2025 to 13.5% in March of this year.

In recent years, the number of young........

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