A leading UK education charity has issued a stark warning over a looming youth unemployment crisis, calling for urgent intervention to avoid creating a “lost generation.”

The call from Education & Employers comes as the OECD releases its global report, The State of Global Teenage Career Preparation, highlighting a worrying mismatch between young people’s career aspirations and the future job market.

According to Office for National Statistics (ONS) data, nearly 1 million young people (987,000) in the UK are currently not in education, employment, or training (NEET) — the highest figure in over a decade.

At the same time, employers across the UK are struggling to recruit in key sectors, including healthcare, skilled trades, and digital technologies, deepening the country’s skills shortage and increasing dependence on overseas labour.

Mismatch Between Aspirations and Reality

The OECD’s new report shows that although the digital, data science, and green job sectors have surged in demand since 2000, teenagers’ job aspirations have remained largely static over the past 25 years.

Nick Chambers, CEO of Education & Employers, said:

“We need urgent action today to secure growth and full youth employment tomorrow.
This means immediately scaling up our efforts to help young people see what they can be.”

Inspiring the Future: A Scalable Solution

The charity runs Inspiring the Future, a national initiative bringing volunteers from all walks of professional life into schools to speak with pupils about their careers — either in-person or virtually.

• 452,000+ children and young people already benefit from the programme each year.
• 92,000 volunteers and 12,500 schools are involved nationwide.
• The programme has facilitated more than 4.9 million career interactions.

Chambers said even one hour a year from each volunteer can transform life prospects:

“Our research shows continuous interventions starting in primary school are crucial. The earlier children connect with real-world careers, the better they are prepared to pursue those paths.”

Call for Support

Education & Employers is now seeking national support to expand the programme to reach:

• 1 million young people annually, then
• 5 million, in order to match demand and mitigate the NEET crisis.

Chambers added:

“Now is the time for action to guarantee that our young people fully understand the opportunities open to them and that we have the future workforce we need to ensure a vibrant and prosperous economy.”

Youth Employment by the Numbers