Alan Milburn warns of economic catastrophe over 946,000 Neets
Alan Milburn is expected to warn this week that businesses must change fast for an anxious generation of young people, saying firms need more flexibility and mental health support to avoid an economic catastrophe. The former Labour health secretary and government jobs adviser is due to argue that young people’s brains have been rewired by smartphones.
He will link that warning to almost 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training. Milburn’s interim report on Neets is due next week, after Keir Starmer asked him in November last year to examine why so many young people are outside work and study.
Milburn's report on Neets
According to the report’s expected findings, a rising tide of mental ill-health, anxiety, depression and neurodiversity is a central driver of high economic inactivity among young people. Milburn has said the system is “trapping people in worklessness rather than enabling them into work,” and warned, “We’re at a risk of just writing a whole generation off.”
His report will say young people have grown up in a digital world that has rewired how they communicate, form relationships and manage stress. It will also say they have fewer experiences of workplaces and present with higher levels of anxiety and depression.
946,000 young Neets
The UK has 946,000 Neets, and more than half have never worked. A quarter are classed as unable to work because of a long-term sickness or disability, and 43% of that group say mental health problems are the main reason they cannot work.
That share has risen since 2011, when 24% of Neets classed as unable to work said mental health problems were the primary reason. Milburn has described the group as a “bedroom generation,” saying, “They are on all the time, they’re never off,” and that social media is affecting sleep patterns, concentration levels and the ability to work.
Businesses and young workers
Milburn is expected to argue that Neets could help British businesses that are struggling to find skilled labour as immigration falls. Net migration dropped to 171,000 last year after peaking at 891,000 in 2022, adding pressure on employers to widen the pool of available workers.
He is also expected to press firms to adapt to young workers rather than wait for them to fit old patterns. Peter Hyman, the former headteacher and adviser to Blair and Starmer, has separately called schools a “pipeline” to worklessness and urged radical change, including a social media ban.
