Soaring mental health conditions locking unemployed young people out of the job market warns new report.
Today, The Prince’s Trust and Learning and Work Institute launched a new ‘Power of Potential’ report, which takes an in-depth look at young people who are not in employment, education, or training (NEET). You can download the report here.
The ‘Power of Potential’ report finds that:
- There are almost half a million NEET young people who want to work, and, with the right support, could help to fill the record number of vacancies. Many young people with mental and physical health problems and caring responsibilities are keen to find work, despite these challenges.
- Almost half (46%) of young people without a job said they have additional mental health issues or caring responsibilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic which meant they were out of work.
- When asked what would help with securing employment, the most common response was support to build confidence (38%) and support with mental health problems or disabilities (24%). Flexibility in hours was important for those job searching, particularly for individuals with a disability, physical or mental health problem, with almost half (46%) stating this as a key factor compared to 35% of those without.
New analysis of labour market data shows the number of NEET young people reporting a mental health problem has increased from 11 per cent in 2011 to almost a third (30 per cent) in 2022.
Almost three fifths (58%) of NEET young people polled said they are currently looking for work. Longer term, over 8 in 10 (84%) said they had employment or career aspirations within the next three to five years.
You can find more information and read the full report on The Prince’s Trust’s website here, and Learning and Work Institute’s website here.
