For most young people, leaving school or college is supposed to mark the beginning of something new. It might mean university, an apprenticeship, training or a first job.

But for a growing number of young people, that next step is not straightforward.

Young people who are not in education, employment or training are commonly described as NEET. It is a short label, but behind it are thousands of individual young people with very different circumstances, ambitions and barriers.

Recent research from Impetus highlights why understanding those differences matters.

The number of young people who are NEET is rising

During much of the 2010s, the proportion of young people who were NEET in the UK was falling. That progress has since gone into reverse.

By the beginning of 2026, the NEET rate among 18 to 24-year-olds in the UK had risen to 15.8%, its highest level since 2014.

This matters because being outside education and employment can affect much more than what someone is doing today. Research highlighted by Impetus links periods of being NEET with poorer mental health, lower earnings later in working life and an increased likelihood of experiencing other difficulties.

But simply knowing how many young people are NEET does not explain why.

There is no single type of NEET young person

It can be tempting to talk about NEET young people as though they are one group facing the same problem.

The data tells a much more complicated story.

Impetus analysed the government’s Longitudinal Education Outcomes dataset, which follows the education and employment journeys of around four million young people aged 18 to 24. Its analysis found that several characteristics are associated with a greater likelihood of becoming NEET.

Socioeconomic disadvantage is one factor. Young people who qualified for free school meals in Year 11 have higher NEET rates than young people from more advantaged backgrounds. Disability is another significant factor. Qualification levels, gender and ethnicity can also affect the picture.

Crucially, these factors do not always operate independently.

When different disadvantages overlap, the likelihood of a young person being outside education and employment can increase substantially.

For example, the Impetus analysis found that 34% of disadvantaged young people with a disability were NEET, compared with 10% of young people who were neither disadvantaged nor recorded as having a disability in the underlying England data.

Qualification levels widen some of these gaps further. Among the groups examined by Impetus, young women from disadvantaged backgrounds with low qualifications had particularly high NEET rates.

This helps challenge the idea that becoming NEET is simply the result of a young person making the wrong choices.

Their opportunities can be shaped long before they begin applying for jobs.

Where you grow up matters too

The chances available to young people are not evenly distributed across the country.

Impetus found that less affluent areas of England tend to have higher NEET rates than more affluent areas. Its data dashboard shows considerable variation between local authorities, demonstrating why a single national figure cannot tell the whole story.

Across England, the NEET rate for 18 to 24-year-olds was around 14% in 2019, representing more than 554,000 young people in the dataset. Impetus estimates the England rate at around 15% in 2026.

Again, the differences become clearer when the data is broken down.

For young people with a disability, Impetus estimates a 2026 NEET rate of 28%, compared with 12% for young people without a disability.

These are not small differences. They point towards structural barriers that require more targeted responses.

Moving beyond the label

Perhaps the biggest lesson from the data is that the word “NEET” tells us what a young person is not doing, but very little about who they are or why they are in that position.

A young person may be dealing with a disability or additional educational needs. They may have left school without the qualifications employers expect. They might live somewhere with fewer opportunities, lack professional networks or simply need more support making the transition between education and work.

For some, several of these circumstances may overlap.

Understanding that complexity is important because the solution cannot simply be to tell young people to “get a job”.

Effective support needs to recognise the different obstacles standing between a young person and their next opportunity.

As Impetus argues, better data can help local leaders and policymakers identify which young people are most at risk and develop more focused, evidence-based support.

Young people need routes back in

Becoming NEET should not determine the rest of someone’s life.

The challenge is making sure young people can find a route back into education, training or meaningful employment before a temporary period of uncertainty becomes a long-term disadvantage.

That means looking beyond headline unemployment figures and understanding the circumstances behind them.

Most importantly, it means looking beyond the NEET label itself.

Every percentage point represents young people trying to work out what comes next. The better we understand the barriers they face, the better chance we have of helping them take that next step.

Source: Impetus, Who Are NEET Young People?, Youth Jobs Gap research and data dashboard. Data dashboard last updated August 2026.