A major review has warned that one in six young people will not be in education, employment or training within five years unless urgent action is taken.
The review’s author, former minister Alan Milburn, said the education, health and welfare systems are “no longer fit for purpose” in preparing young people for adult life.
“We are at risk of a lost generation,” Milburn warned, with the number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work, education or training set to rise to 1.25 million by 2031.
Milburn said the “first rung of the career ladder has thinned” and that for “too many young people it is now simply out of reach.”
“That places them in a hopeless catch-22 where employers ask for work experience but the opportunities for young people to gain it have narrowed or gone,” he said.
The unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds currently stands at 16.2%, the highest since 2014 and more than three times the broader unemployment rate of 5%.
Official UK figures show there were 957,000 young people classed as not in employment, education or training from October to December 2025, equivalent to one in eight in that age group.
Milburn challenged the narrative that young people do not want to work, noting that 84% of those surveyed said they want a job or training.
“This is not a failure of young people. It is a failure of a system stuck in the past,” he said, arguing that the welfare system too often puts young people “on a path to a life not in jobs but on benefits.”
The review found that in 2024/25, for every £1 spent on employment support for young people, around £25 was spent on benefits, a disparity Milburn described to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg as deeply troubling.
The report also found the number of low- and medium-skilled jobs in the UK had fallen by 1.6 million over the past 20 years, while higher-skilled positions rose by 6.3 million.
Vacancies in the hospitality sector, which often provides first work experience for young people, have halved in the past four years.
The boss of Next, Lord Simon Wolfson, told the BBC that two years ago the retailer received 10 applications per shop vacancy, a figure that has since risen to 19.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, who commissioned the review, said: “We are already taking action,” highlighting government plans to pay companies to hire young people and expand apprenticeships.
McFadden also said the government is focusing on “early intervention” measures such as special educational needs support and removal of the two-child benefit cap, adding: “But we know there is more to do.”
Rain Newton-Smith, chief executive of the Confederation of British Industry, said the report exposed “a tragic waste of potential and sets out the key problems that must be fixed.”
Some employers have argued that higher minimum wages and increased employer National Insurance contributions have made it more difficult to hire young people, though the government has defended both decisions.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately said: “Every policy choice Labour has made, from their jobs tax, capping apprenticeship funding, or trapping young people on welfare, has made it harder for a young person to take their first step into work.”
Twenty-four-year-old Zaynah, who has not worked since leaving college due to physical ill health, said she had applied for more than 200 jobs without receiving a single response from employers.
Luke, 23, who studied product design at Central St Martin’s University, has applied for more than 400 positions and received only one interview, saying the experience “makes you depressed especially the amount of rejections.”