Young People: Unemployment

To ask the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills how many (a) males aged between 16 and 18, (b) females aged between 16 and 18, (c) males aged between 19 and 24 and (d) females aged between 19 and 24 were not in education, training or employment in England in the fourth quarter of each year since 1997. (264433)

The tables show estimates of people aged¹ 16 to 18 and 19 to 24 not in employment, education or training (NEET) in England. These estimates are from the Quarter 4 Labour Force Survey (LFS).

Between 2000 and 2008, the percentage of NEETS has remained largely stable.

We are unable to provide NEET estimates back to 1997 from the LFS as all the data necessary to produce them is not available on datasets prior to Quarter 2 2000.

¹ Age used is the respondent’s academic age, which is defined as their age at the preceding 31 August.

*16 to 18-year-olds not in employment, education or training (NEET)*
	Male	Female
	NEET	Percentage¹	NEET	Percentage
2000	84,000	9.5	67,000	7.9
2001	85,000	9.1	86,000	9.9
2002	95,000	10.0	82,000	9.1
2003	95,000	9.9	81,000	8.9
2004	105,000	10.6	83,000	8.8
2005	132,000	13.2	85,000	9.0
2006	114,000	11.2	84,000	8.8
2007	111,000	11.0	81,000	8.6
2008	108,000	10.8	98,000	10.1
¹ Percentages are given as a proportion of NEETS within each gender. Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 4

*19 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training (NEET)*
	Male	Female
	NEET	Percentage	NEET	Percentage
2000	156,000	9.3	322,000	18.8
2001	187,000	10.9	305,000	17.5
2002	175,000	10.0	307,000	17.3
2003	178,000	9.8	312,000	17.3
2004	207,000	11.1	349,000	18.9
2005	244,000	12.8	376,000	20.0
2006	247,000	12.6	364,000	18.8
2007	226,000	11.2	364,000	18.4
2008	256,000	12.5	395,000	19.7
Source: Labour Force Survey, Quarter 4 Base: 19 to 24-year-olds, England

Volume 491: debated on Monday 20 April 2009