Huge numbers of young people are getting 'trapped in a world of benefits', a Labour adviser has warned. The stark message was delivered by Alan Milburn, who is leading a government review into surging numbers of so-called NEETs - youths not in education, employment or training. 'It's now a million young people across the country who are not in education employment or training,' he said. 'You've got 61 per cent of this one million cohort of young people not in education, employment and training who are not economically inactive, they're not looking for work,' he said. 'This is no longer a problem purely about youth unemployment, it's a problem about youth detachment from the labour market.'

Source: Daily Mail February 23, 2026 18:56 UTC