The figures from the Department for Education show that 1,163,000 16- to 24-year-olds – or 19 per cent of the age group – were Neet in the third quarter of 2011. This is up from 1,026,000 in the same quarter last year, or 17 per cent of the cohort.
Shaks Ghosh, chief executive of the Private Equity Foundation, said the "shocking statistics" reinforce concerns sparked by the recent youth unemployment figures, which showed that more than one million young people are out of work.
"Earlier this month, together with the Work Foundation, we uncovered city black spots where an overwhelming one in four young people are Neet," she said. "But although the government must react now to save this current cohort of Neets, that alone won’t be enough: the next generation is already waiting in the wings. We can identify many who are at risk of becoming Neet long before they leave school."
Martin Doel, chief executive of the Association of Colleges, said the Neet figures add weight to its own statistics, which suggest there has been a fall in the number of students starting college this year.
"The new enrolment figures show a 14 per cent drop in basic skills and pre-GCSE course students," he said. "Sadly, if these young people are not studying at college they are likely to become Neets; most schools do not provide the types of courses they need and work-based learning routes are also likely to be closed to them."
He warned that cuts to local authority transport, Connexions services and the education maintenance allowance, plus worries about higher education costs, could be putting young people off continuing in education, but said research must be conducted into the causes of the rise in Neets.
Katja Hall, chief policy director at business-lobbying organisation the CBI, said the figures show the vast scale of the problem that must be overcome.
"The CBI wants to see a ‘young Britain credit’ to give employers £1,500 for taking on an unemployed 16- to 24-year-old to get more young people into work," she said. "We also want the government to freeze the national minimum wage youth rate and to introduce a one-year apprenticeship scheme from January.
"Only a matter of days away from the autumn statement, we urgently need the government to come up with short-term measures to spur businesses' growth and get firms taking on more young people. Looking further ahead, the government must do more to address the underlying problems that lead to Neets in the first place, such as focusing on helping workless communities and embedding employability skills in school teaching."
