Young people, education, employment and training

The Office for National Statistics has published the latest labour market statistics for the three months up until January 2014.

Key points include that:

• There are 912,000 16 to 24 year olds out of work, a decrease of 29,000 since the previous quarter;
• There were 2.9 million working young people aged 16 to 24 in the UK who were not in full-time education; and
• There are 2.33 million unemployed people in the UK, a fall of 63,000 on the previous quarter.

To download the full statistics visit www.ons.gov.uk/ons/taxonomy/index.html?nscl=Labour+Market.

The Department for Education has published statistics for young people not in education, employment and training (NEET) for October to December 2013.

Key statistics include that:

• The percent change for NEET rates for 16 to 24 years old in October to December 2013 have fallen compared to the same period in the previous year, however not by a statistically significant amount;
• The employment rate of 16 to 18 year olds NET rose from 41.1 percent at the end 2011 to 44.1 percent at end 2012. Over the same period, participation in education and training decreased from 83.3 percent to 82.8 percent.
• The North East, North West and Yorkshire and Humberside have the highest NEET rates and London and East Midlands have the lowest NEET rates.

To download the full statistics visit www.gov.uk/government/publications/neet-statistics-quarterly-brief-october-to-december-2013.

The Education Funding Agency has published figures on the young people on the Youth Contract programme for 16 to 17 year olds.

The figures show the outcomes for young people on the programme between January and September 2013, with key points including:

• 1,722 young people were enrolled on the Youth Contract over the time period;
• Young people had a positive outcome; and
• Five young people sustained the positive outcome for five out of six months.

The Youth Contract programme was rolled out to young people aged 16 or 17 who are not in education, employment or training and with just one GCSE A* to C, or young offenders with one or more GCSE A* to C, or are care or having left care with one or more GCSE A* to C.

To download the figures visit www.gov.uk/government/publications/youth-contract-delivery-data.

The Local Government Association has published Totalling the Hidden Talent, a report about youth under-employment and unemployment in England and Wales.

The report defines hidden talent as unemployed young people, economically inactive young people who want a job, underemployed young people who want more hours than they currently work, young people on government employment and training schemes, young people in temporary jobs but wanting permanent work, and young people who are over-qualified for the work they are doing.

Key points from the report include:

• Two in five, or 2.46 million, young people in England and Wales come under this definition of hidden talent;
• Adults aged 25 and over are much less likely to be part of the total hidden talent than young people, with 28 percent of adults are compared to 40 percent of young people;
• The number of young people in this group has grown by nearly three-quarters of a million since 2005, which is partly but not wholly explained by growth in the overall youth population;
• Urban areas outside of London, including Sheffield, Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester, face the highest total youth hidden talent levels;
• Unemployed and underemployed young people want over two billion more hours of work annually than they are currently working; and
• 31 percent of youth capacity in the workforce goes unused compared to eight percent of adult capacity.

To download the full report visit www.local.gov.uk/documents/10180/49928/LGA+and+Inclusion+-+Totalling+the+hidden+talent.pdf/8f8f9ca7-7bbf-4773-8565-5c475da2d28e.