We're 'laying waste to whole generation', warns former minister, as figures reveal more than 1 million young people not in work
Ex-Labour minister Alan Milburn says one-in-five young people will be out of work and not in training in five years if action is not taken
A former health secretary has warned that "we're laying waste to a whole generation" as a review reveals that the number of young people neither working nor learning could reach 1.25 million within the next five years.
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Author Alan Milburn told Nick Ferrari at Breakfast that the reality for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) is "grim" and that "something is going seriously wrong" when they apply for dozens of jobs with no response.
New figures from the Office of National Statistics have revealed that there were an estimated 1,012,000 young people aged 16 to 24 years in the UK who were NEET in January to March 2026.
Mr Milburn, who is leading the review of the Neets crisis for the Government, will publish his interim report on Thursday.
The former Labour Cabinet minister has already spoken about some of his findings, warning at the weekend of a “bedroom generation” and saying anxiety linked to social media is driving economic inactivity among young people.
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Mr Milburn told LBC that he believes the social contract is broken.
"84 per cent of them want to be in work or training," he said, "so there's no shortage of effort.
"The problem is a shortage of opportunity and, frankly, a shortage of support.
"This is 6 in 10 of these young people now have never, ever had a job.
"Honestly, if you haven't had a job by the time you're 24, the chances of getting a job by the time you're 34 are so much lower.
"We're laying to waste a whole generation. I call it a lost generation."
An estimated 13.5 per cent of all people aged 16 to 24 years in the UK were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in January to March 2026.
Mr Milburn added that there needs to be reform to the welfare system so that people on benefits are given more support to get into work.
He cited a figure from his landmark report which found that for every £25 the government spends on handing out benefits to young people, it only spends £1 on employment support to get them into work.
He said: "The truth is for a generation or more, we have spent more on the costs of failure - of young people being disengaged from the labour market than on preventing it in the first place.
"So, we need welfare reform, but you need school reform, you need health reform as well.
"Young people don't just become NEET at the age of 16. It starts well before that."
Debbie Abrahams, Chair of the Work and Pensions Select Committee, told LBC News: "We need to be working better together to make sure that young people, as I say, thrive as they go forward in their working lives."
The report is expected to set out how entry level jobs have been in sharp decline with 1.6 million fewer low and medium skilled jobs in the economy, making it difficult for people to get into the jobs market.
It will say vacancies in hospitality have halved in the last four years alone while so-called “Saturday jobs” have long been declining and apprenticeship starts among young people have plummeted 35% in the past decade.
While this report is expected to set out why the system is seen to be failing young people and what the situation will lead to if nothing changes, recommendations for fundamental reform are not expected until later this year.
Mr Milburn told LBC's Natasha Clark: "The easiest thing is to do the blame game. Everybody wants to blame everybody. Blame the smartphones, blame the parents, blame the benefit system, blame the employers, blame the politicians, sure. Blame the politicians, fine."
"But that doesn't get you anywhere. You've got to understand what the hell is going on, why it's getting worse not better. You got to take a systems wide view of it."
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has previously said the impact of youth unemployment could scar people for the rest of their lives, branding it a “a quiet crisis, a ticking timebomb, which risks their future working lives”.
It was reported he will announce plans for 300,000 extra work experience placements over the next three years, with the DWP saying the Government is keen to “give every young person the best start in their career”.
Mr McFadden said: “I commissioned this report because we cannot afford to lose a generation of young people, and I welcome Alan Milburn’s vital work which lays bare the scale of the challenge and the root causes of youth unemployment we now need to confront.”
He pledged to “work across government and with employers, charities and young people to drive real change, so more young people are earning or learning, not left behind”.
Marks & Spencer chief executive Stuart Machin said the report “lays bare the joblessness crisis facing a generation of young people”, warning that the findings are “shocking but not surprising”.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said the report shows “an entire generation is being let down” and that the system “is not doing enough to help them build confidence, gain experience or find a secure route into employment”.
IPPR executive director, Harry Quilter-Pinner, said: “Turning this around will take action across government, involving multiple departments and a range of policy solutions.
“But the priority is simple: make sure every young person can access good training and a real route into secure work.”
David Hughes, chief executive at the Association of Colleges said colleges must be “at the heart of the system and with the right investment can do so much more”.
He added: “In countries that have successfully reduced Neet numbers, young people are offered more time in college doing technical education and better access to supportive apprenticeships.”
Big Issue founder and crossbench peer in the House of Lords, John Bird, said: “As the job market becomes more competitive, it will be those disadvantaged by poverty who lose out.
“If the Milburn Review is serious about a system reset, it must start by recognising poverty is not just an outcome of the Neet crisis – it is its driving force.”
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “This report is overdue, but Starmer and his leadership rivals are too busy playing politics to deal with this generational crisis.
“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. Their only answer has been a flurry of piecemeal work programmes – an approach this report rubbishes.”
