Unemployment

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what percentage of (a) males aged 16 to 18, (b) females aged 16 to 18, (c) males aged 19 to 24 and (d) females aged 19 to 24 years were not in education, employment or training in the first quarter of each year since 1997. (275869)

The following 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 1 Labour Force Survey (LFS) in all years that the required data are available.

We are unable to provide NEET estimates back to 1997 from the LFS as all the data necessary to produce them are not available on datasets prior to quarter 2 2000. However for 16-18 year olds data are available from 1997 using the definitive source for this age group and are published annually in a DCSF Statistical First Release. The most recent release is due to be updated on 16 June 2009 and will be available at

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/SFR/s000849/index.shtml.

Data from the LFS for more recent periods up to quarter 4 2008 are available from official statistics last published by DCSF in February 2009 (see following link). These are due to be updated to include quarter 1 2009 on 23 June 2009.

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d000751/index.shtml

¹Age 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 NEET	%	Female NEET	%
2001	91,000	10.1	78,000	9.2
2002	100,000	10.8	88,000	9.9
2003	108,000	11.3	90,000	10.0
2004	101,000	10.5	88,000	9.6
2005	106,000	10.8	98,000	10.4
2006	128,000	12.9	97,000	10.3
2007	122,000	12.1	90,000	9.6
2008	101,000	10.1	92,000	9.7
Source: Labour Force Survey, quarter 1 Base: 16 to 18 year olds, England

*19 to 24 year olds not in employment education or training (NEET).*
	Male NEET	%	Female NEET	%
2001	173,000	10.2	330,000	19.1
2002	190,000	11.1	323,000	18.6
2003	199,000	11.3	333,000	18.9
2004	179,000	9.8	310,000	17.1
2005	205,000	10.9	334,000	18.1
2006	216,000	11.3	360,000	19.2
2007	249,000	12.6	367,000	18.8
2008	256,000	12.6	361,000	18.3
Source: Labour Force Survey, quarter 1 Base: 19 to 24 year olds, England

To ask the Minister of State, Department for Business, Innovation and Skills how many and what percentage of people aged 16 to 24 years old were not in education, employment and training in the first quarter of each year for which figures are available. (275870)

The following table shows estimates of people aged¹ 16 to 24 not in employment, education or training (NEET) in England. The earliest estimates are from the quarter 1 2001 Labour Force Survey (LFS), the earliest quarter 1 for which figures are available.

Data from the LFS for more recent periods up to quarter 4 2008 are available from official statistics last published by DCSF in February 2009 (see following link). These are due to be updated to include quarter 1 2009 on 23 June 2009.

http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/rsgateway/DB/STR/d000751/index.shtml

*16 to 24 year olds not in employment, education or training (NEET).*
Q1	NEET	Percentage)
2001	671,000	13.0
2002	701,000	13.3
2003	729,000	13.6
2004	677,000	12.3
2005	743,000	13.1
2006	801,000	14.0
2007	828,000	14.1
2008	810,000	13.6
¹ Age used is the respondent’s academic age, which is defined as their age at the preceding 31 August. Source: Labour Force Survey, quarter 1 Base: 16 to 24 year olds, England

Volume 494: debated on Wednesday 17 June 2009