Press Story

Young people in Rotherham have just 46 vacancies for every 1,000 young adults, compared with 288 in the Cotswolds
Nine of the 10 best areas for youth job opportunities are in the South of England
IPPR calls for a single-rate youth allowance for Universal Credit claimants, removing perverse incentives that can discourage moves into work

A stark new Local Youth Opportunity Index from IPPR reveals a six-fold divide in the availability of suitable jobs for young people depending on where they live, as the think tank warns that Britain cannot solve its NEET crisis without creating opportunities in the places that lack them.

The new analysis which measures the number of suitable online vacancies relative to the number of 18 to 24-year olds in a local labour market finds that there is around one suitable vacancy for every 22 young people in places like Rotherham, compared with one for every four young people in the Cotswolds.

Of local authorities with available data, nine of the 10 with the highest number of suitable vacancies per young adults are in the South, while four of the worst areas are in the Midlands, with the rest in Yorkshire, Scotland, Wales, and the East of England.

The findings underline that becoming NEET is not simply a question of an individual's qualifications or willingness to look for work with young people facing an unemployment rate more than three times that of the wider workforce.

The report also identifies a major failure to use apprenticeships consistently as a route into skilled work.

IPPR analysis shows apprenticeship provision is highly uneven between sectors relative to the size of their workforces, with health and social work among the sectors offering the most apprenticeships, while sectors like arts and entertainment lag far behind.

The think tank calculates that even halving the gap between the highest and lowest performing sectors would generate around 110,000 more apprentices every year.

The authors warn the government that the employment-support system is failing to reach a large part of the population it is supposed to help. Jobcentre Plus is principally organised around people receiving Universal Credit, yet around half of young people who are NEET do not receive it.

For those that do claim, the system remains too focused on compliance and work-search requirements. Among Universal Credit claimants in the searching-for-work group, the youngest claimants are almost five times as likely to be sanctioned as the oldest, highlighting how strongly young people are exposed to the system’s conditionality and enforcement regime.

To tackle the NEET crisis, IPPR is calling on the government and the Milburn Review to act on three fronts with a New Youth Contract:

Creating opportunity with a ‘Work Start’ programme funding jobs in areas with too few entry-level opportunities, with local leaders shaping jobs around local priorities
Rebuilding career pathways by reforming apprenticeships to prioritise young people and create many more entry-level opportunities
Building a universal youth employment service with personalised support and a new youth allowance, replacing different Universal Credit rates based on work capability and helping young people move into work, education and training

Lord David Blunkett, former secretary of state for education and employment, said:

"I was 16, with no qualifications, little knowledge about further education but with a burning ambition to be independent and fend for myself. Born without sight and brought up on a council estate in Sheffield, my route forward was neither straightforward nor assured. I know, therefore, something of what it means to stand at the threshold of adult life without a clear path ahead.

"Young people have an immense amount to give. With national ambition, local leadership and the willingness to invest, we can ensure that birthplace does not determine a young person's future. We can renew the promise that should lie at the heart of any decent society: that no young person will be discarded, that the door to opportunity will remain open, and that everyone will have the chance to build a life of purpose."

Lord Jim Knight, former minister for employment and minister for schools, said:

“IPPR's report dispels the myth that nearly a million young people are out of work because they lack aspiration. Young people in Rotherham are not six times less talented than those in the Cotswolds; they face six times fewer suitable vacancies.

“Leaving young people in certain regions with the fewest opportunities on the economic scrapheap would be both a moral tragedy and far more costly in the long run. That's why IPPR’s Work Start proposal is vital: it would give young people their first step in places where opportunities are scarce. As Employment Minister in Gordon Brown's government, I saw through the Future Jobs Fund that proved work placements work. They allow young people to contribute while gaining the experience employers demand, and result in more young people finding lasting work."

Avnee Morjaria, associate director at IPPR, said:

“Young people need a route into adulthood, not a maze of disconnected schemes and services. The Milburn Review is a chance to fundamentally reset our approach: creating real opportunities, opening up high-quality apprenticeships, and giving every young person access to a trusted adviser and the financial security they need to take the next step. A young person's postcode or circumstances should not decide whether they get the chance to build a working life.”

Henry Parkes, principal economist at IPPR, said:

“Too much of the debate about youth unemployment starts from the assumption that the problem lies with the young person. Our local data shows just how wrong that is. There is a more than six-fold gap in the availability of suitable vacancies depending on where you live.

“You cannot solve a shortage of opportunity simply by asking young people to search harder. We need to create the first rung of the employment ladder in places where it is missing – and rebuild apprenticeships so that every sector is playing its part in giving the next generation a route into good work.”

Susannah Hardyman, CEO of Impetus, said:

"Where a young person grows up should not determine their chances of finding work. These findings are deeply worrying because we know that where someone lives compounds the risk of being NEET for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds, who are already twice as likely to be out of education, training or employment as their better-off peers.

"Young people, no matter what their background, deserve opportunities to build fulfilling lives, so cost-effective solutions designed around those most likely to be left behind are vital."

Gina Cicerone, CEO of the Fair Education Alliance, said:

“This is an important report with recommendations that could make a real difference to young people, particularly those from low-income backgrounds who are more likely to face barriers to finding and sustaining work, including financial insecurity, fragmented support, and limited access to the opportunities and networks that help people get into work.

"A youth employment system built around personalised support, trusted relationships and greater financial security could help change that. Giving every young person a dedicated adviser, joining up employment, health and skills support, and working more closely with employers could give many more young people the confidence, stability and opportunities they need to move into good, sustained employment.”

ENDS

Avnee Morjaria and Henry Parkes are available for interview

Case studies available on request

CONTACT

Liam Evans, head of news and media: 07419 365 334 l.evans@ippr.org

NOTES TO EDITORS

Advance copies of the report are available under embargo on request
Methodology: For the local vacancy analysis, we use ONS statistics on online job adverts by local authority, broken down by Standard Occupational Classification (SOC), covering July 2025 to June 2026. We define “suitable” vacancies as occupations likely to offer entry-level opportunities, based on relatively low entry and experience requirements. Quarterly vacancy estimates are then expressed relative to the number of 18–24-year-olds in each local authority, using the latest available mid-2025 population estimates. Data on vacancies are unavailable for individual London boroughs and so are excluded from the analysis.
Methodology: For the apprenticeship calculations, we compare 2023/24 apprenticeship starts with 2023/24 workforce jobs in each sector to calculate the number of apprenticeship starts per job. We then estimate the additional starts that would have occurred if each sector had closed half the gap between its actual apprenticeship intensity and that of the best-performing sector, health and social care.
Methodology: For the sanctions analysis, we use the DWP Stat-Xplore Universal Credit Sanction Rate dataset, restricting the sample to claimants subject to full work-search requirements. Sanction rates are calculated as the average over the latest 12 months of available data, from May 2025 to April 2026.
IPPR (the Institute for Public Policy Research) is the UK’s most influential think tank, with alumni in Downing Street, the cabinet and parliament. We are the practical ideas factory behind many of the current government’s flagship policies, including changes to fiscal rules, the creation of a National Wealth Fund, GB Energy, devolution, and reforms to the NHS. As an independent charity working towards a fairer, greener, and more prosperous society, we have spent almost 40 years creating tangible progressive change - turning bold ideas into common sense realities. www.ippr.org