NEET young people ‘unable to cope with life’ amid pandemic, Prince’s Trust warns
Fiona Simpson
Tuesday, January 19, 2021
Four in 10 young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) have said they feel "unable to cope with life" since the start of the pandemic, new research from the Prince’s Trust shows.
Overall, a quarter of young people (26 per cent) said they felt “unable to cope with life” since lockdown measures were first introduced across the UK in March last year, according to the charity’s Tesco Youth Index.
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The study, conducted by YouGov, gauges young people’s happiness and confidence levels across a range of areas, from their working life to their physical and mental health.
This year’s report, which surveyed 2,180 16- to 25-year olds across the UK, suggests that more young people are feeling anxious than ever in the 12-year history of the Index.
Half of 16- to 25-year-olds said their mental health has worsened since the start of the pandemic with 56 per cent saying they “always” or “often” feel anxious, increasing to 64 per cent among NEET young people.
The Prince’s Trust has warned of the “devastating effect” of the pandemic on young people’s mental health with latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that the number of young people aged 16 to 24 in employment between August and October last year dropped by 90,000, meaning youth employment fell to 3.51 million, the lowest level on record.
Before the pandemic, ONS figures show that there were 792,000 young people classed as NEET in the UK.
The report adds that more than half (54 per cent) of young people say it is harder to ask for employment help as "everyone needs it at the moment".
For NEET young people, almost half (48 per cent) say they "can’t see an end" to their unemployment and 65 per cent agree that the longer they are jobless, the worse they feel about themselves.
The Prince’s Trust and Tesco have launched mental health resources and support in schools across the UK.
The partnership also helps young people into jobs through The Trust’s employability courses while Tesco is self-funding six-month retail work placements for 1,000 unemployed young people through the government's Kickstart programme.
Jonathan Townsend, UK chief executive at The Prince’s Trust said: “The pandemic has taken a devastating toll on young people’s mental health and wellbeing. “They face a disrupted education, a shrinking jobs market and isolation from their friends and loved ones, and as a result, too many are losing all hope for the future. As ever, it is unemployed young people – and those with few qualifications and little confidence – who have an even more negative experience.”