Young people from workless households more likely to be unemployed, ONS data shows

The figures show that 16- to 24-year-olds in workless households are twice as likely to be economically inactive than young people from other economic backgrounds.

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The data published today (Monday) is the first time the ONS has released figures on the number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) by socio-economic group. They have been seized upon by organisations supporting Neet young people to highlight the need for policymakers to provide more employment support for the most disadvantaged families.

Steve Haines, director at the youth charity Impetus, said: “These new statistics show that young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are much more likely to be locked out of the labour market. They demonstrate the weakness of focusing on headline ‘youth unemployment’ figures, which don’t include people who are economically inactive.

“There is no reason why young people from lower socio-economic backgrounds should be less work ready than their peers. At a time of record vacancies, it is particularly important not to overlook these young people who may need extra help to access employment opportunities. Our research has previously shown that around half of this gap is likely to be due to lower levels of qualifications, but half isn’t, which suggests that while a good education is important there are other forms of social capital that matter for young people as well.”

The ONS data, which covers the period from July 2014 to September 2021, shows that young people from workless households have an employment rate of 51.9 per cent, nearly 20 percentage points lower than peers of the same age from “working class” households (70.5 per cent). Young people from “professional” and “intermediate” households have employment rates of 73 and 76 per cent respectively.

Meanwhile, 36.2 per cent of young people from workless households are classed as economically inactivity, twice the rate of that for working class and professional households, 17.8 and 17.9 per cent respectively, and nearly three-times that of peers from intermediate households (12.9 per cent).

Over the seven-year period studied, the employment gap between workless households and other socio-economic groups has stayed roughly the same, however the data also shows how the Covid-19 pandemic had a much harder impact on the poorest households.

In the three months from July-September 2020, during the first pandemic lockdown, the proportion of young people from workless households in employment fell to 43.9 per cent from 51.9 per cent in the same period the year before. By comparison, other socio-economic groups saw a much smaller reduction in employment levels.