CSJ says Mass Migration drove 27 hires for every young Brit
The Centre for Social Justice says mass migration has helped drive youth worklessness in Britain, with 27 young non-EU migrant workers hired for every additional young British employee since January 2020. Its analysis of HMRC payroll data says the number of non-EU workers under 25 on UK payrolls rose from 82,000 to 370,000 by December 2025, while the young British workforce grew by only 0.3 per cent.
The think tank’s Wasted Youth report ties that shift to almost one million 16 to 24-year-olds now not in education, employment or training. Joe Shalam, the CSJ’s policy director, said, “Alan Milburn has powerfully exposed the scandal of nearly one million young people being left without work or training.”
HMRC payroll data
The CSJ says the under-25 non-EU workforce increased by 290,000 between January 2020 and December 2025, while the number of UK-national under-25s on payrolls rose by 11,000 over the same period. That leaves the labor market picture stark: 27 young non-EU migrant workers hired for every additional young British employee since January 2020.
Shalam said, “Poor mental health, access to benefits, and weak employment support are all part of the problem.” He added, “But the labour market these young people are trying to enter matters too.” The analysis points to a first-rung hiring squeeze rather than a broad collapse across all age groups, because the figures focus on under-25 payroll workers and not the wider workforce.
Retail and hospitality shift
The sharpest movement appears in retail and hospitality. CSJ analysis says non-EU workers of all ages in those sectors rose by 473,000 between January 2020 and December 2025, while UK nationals employed there fell by 252,000. Shalam said, “We cannot ignore the role almost half a million more non-EU migrants being employed in sectors like retail and hospitality since 2020 has played in fuelling the NEETs crisis.”
He also said, “Starter roles are simply vanishing across the jobs market, made worse of course by rising costs for employers.” In practical terms, the analysis argues that the openings many younger British workers would normally use to enter work are becoming harder to find in the sectors that hire at scale.
Resident Labour Market Test
The CSJ’s response goes beyond diagnosis. Its Wasted Youth report calls for a Future Workforce Credit, described as an effective tax cut worth 30 per cent of a NEET’s salary, and it wants the Resident Labour Market Test reinstated. That test required employers to advertise vacancies to the domestic workforce before offering roles through work visa schemes, and it was abolished under the new points-based immigration system in 2020.
Shalam said, “Protecting Britain from under-cut labour is an essential first step to improving the pay, conditions and training opportunities for British young people.” He added, “Young people in this country have endless potential and yet the choices made by governments of all stripes have locked so much of it away.” The next step inside this debate is not a vote or a migration statistic, but whether ministers treat the CSJ’s call to restore the labour-market test as a policy option rather than a report-line critique.
