The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician who has been asked to reply.
Letter from Karen Dunnell, dated 26 November 2007:
As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your Parliamentary Question about the number of people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are currently not in full-time education or training or in employment in the most recent period for which figures are available. (167361)
Not seasonally adjusted and seasonally adjusted estimates for the educational status, economic activity and inactivity of young people are published each month in the Labour Market Statistics First Release in table 14, covering the UK for age groups, 16-17, 18-24, and 25 and over and are available at:
http://nswebcopy/downloads/theme_labour/LMS_FR_HS/WebTable14SA.xls
The attached table has been derived from the published seasonally adjusted table 14. It shows the number of people between the ages of 16 and 24, who are currently not in full-time education or training or in employment, for the three months ending September 2007. These estimates are seasonally adjusted.
Estimates are taken from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). As with any sample survey, estimates from the LFS are subject to a margin of uncertainty.
Thousand Three months ending September All Persons Male Female ILO unemployed 490 305 186 Economically Inactive 748 251 497 Total 1,238 556 683 1 Refers to people who are not in full-time education or training. This does include people in part-time education and/or some form of training. The total number of young people who are not in employment, education or training (“NEET”) cannot therefore be derived from this table. 2 People not in employment refers to those who are ILO unemployed or economically inactive. Source: ONS Labour Force Survey (LFS)