The ONS have released the latest Labour Market Overview covering the months of November 2022 – January 2023.
What does this mean for Youth Employment?
The latest labour market overview from the Office for National Statistics reveals that there continues to be nearly one million 16-24 year olds who are not in full time education or employment (workless). The data also shows that the proportion of young people in this ‘workless’ group who are economically inactive now accounts for 69.5% of this group, meaning that nearly 7 in 10 young people who are not in full time education or work are economically inactive.
Headlines for young people aged 16-24
In work:
| Employment rate | Employment Level |
| 55.1% (↑1.0%) | 3,766,000 (↑66,000) |
Unemployment:
| Unemployment rate | Unemployment Level |
| 10.8% (↓0.5%) | 458,000 (↓13,000) |
Economically inactive:
| Economically inactive rate | Economically inactive level |
| 38.2% (↓0.8) | 2,611,000 (↓55,000) |
Education:
| In full-time education | Not in full-time education |
| 3,048,000 (↓60,000) | 3,788,000 (↑58,500) |
Worklessness:
| Not in full-time education or employment | |
| 985,000 (↓16,000) | |
| Economically inactiveÂ
(not in full-time education) |
Unemployed (not in full-time education) |
|  684,000 (↑4,000) | 301,000 (↓20,000) |
Headlines for all ages
In work:
| Employment rate | Employment Level |
| 75.7% (↑0.01%) 16-64 | 32,829,000(↑25,500) |
Unemployment:
| Unemployment rate | Unemployment Level |
| 3.7% (-) | 1,253,000 (↓17,000) |
Economically inactive:
| Economically inactive rate | Economically inactive level |
| 21.3 (↓0.1)16-64 | 8,858,000 (↓30,000) 16-64 |
Commentary
The latest labour market overview from the Office for National Statistics continues to show that we have nearly one million 16-24 year olds who are not in education or employment (‘workless’). Concerningly, the data also shows that the proportion of young people in this group who are economically inactive continues to grow, now accounting for 69.5% of all young people not in full time education or work.
As vacancies continue to fall and wages struggle to keep up with inflation young people are facing a difficult labour market landscape ahead. Our Youth Voice Census 2022 revealed that young people do not feel confident that they will find good quality work where they live and do not feel prepared to enter the world of work. The continued labour market challenges and uncertain economic outlook are additional barriers for young people accessing employment.
CEO, Laura-Jane Rawlings:
“We are increasingly concerned by the number of young people who are economically inactive, 7 in 10 young ‘workless’ young people are now economically inactive. This group is most likely to be furthest from the labour market and will need targeted support in an already complex and challenging labour market.
Young people are telling us about their growing anxieties, place based issues and lack of confidence in applying for work or even being able to find good work with employers who want them.
The government must act, young people can not afford for them keep missing the opportunity for support.”
