More Young Brits Get Involved, As Total Number Of 'Layabouts' Decrease

by Benson Agoha | Employment Statistics

More young Brits are increasingly getting involved in one activity or another, according to the latest figures from the Office of National Statistics.

Among those in the age bracket of between 16 and 24, a total of 922,000 people were found to be 'layabouts' and were not involved in education, employment or training during the second quarter of 2015,

In the first quarter of the 2015 (January - March) while 433,000 were unemployed, 510,000 were described as economically inactive. In the second quarter of the year 431,000 were unemployed while 490 were economically inactive.

But the figure also represented a reduction from the first quarter when the total of NEET amounted to 943,000.

In percentage terms, the percentage of all young people in the UK who were NEET was 12.7%, down 0.3 percentage points from January to March 2015 and down 0.5 percentage points from a year earlier.

Just under half (47%) of all young people in the UK who were NEET were looking for work and available for work and therefore classified as unemployed. The remainder were either not looking for work and/or not available for work and therefore classified as economically inactive.

* Office National Statistics