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- Almost one million young people idle as UK payroll data reveals 315 per cent increase in employed non-EU migrants under 25
- Youth bearing brunt of NICs hike with 35,000 fall in under 25s employed since April 2025 – down 119,000 since June 2024
- Lord Blunkett and Sir Jeremy Hunt MP back “Future Workforce Credit” for employers getting young Brits into work, funded by new benefit cut
Young Brits are being squeezed out of the workforce by a toxic cocktail of rising payroll taxes, surging benefit awards and mass migration, according to alarming new research by a leading independent think-tank.
Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) analysis found that between January 2020 and December 2024, there were 49,000 fewer Brits under 25 on payrolls, while the number of under 25 non-EU migrants in roles soared by 258,000.
The new report, Wasted Youth, suggests that the widening gulf in employment patterns is partly explained by UK employers opting for immigrants, while thousands of British young people are instead claiming out of work benefits for conditions such as anxiety and depression.
It finds that the surge in non-EU employment is largely concentrated in jobs such as retail and hospitality where qualifications are typically lower.
While the vast majority of the surge in migration since 2020 is not in work, new CSJ analysis of HMRC payroll data shows a 315 per cent increase in under-25 employees from outside the EU.
Meanwhile, there has been a huge rise in the number of NEETs (young people not in employment, education or training). This has been driven by rocketing claims for mental ill health, the increase in employers’ National Insurance levies and the end to age-based minimum wage bands.
One in eight 16 to 24 year olds are now not in education, employment or training. Economic inactivity among 16 to 24 year olds, excluding students, has risen by 23 per cent. In the last year alone, under 25s on payroll plummeted by 119,000.
The CSJ warns that a spell as a NEET bodes ill for future life chances, with young male NEETs the worst affected. They are ten times likelier to remain economically inactive 20 years later, leaving them poorer, sicker, lonelier, and more likely to die early.
Worryingly, the number of economically inactive NEETs citing ill-health has increased by half since 2019. Of the 250,000 NEETs inactive due to sickness, 62 per cent report mental / emotional difficulties and half cognitive difficulties, with the two overlapping in over a quarter of cases.
The CSJ calls for an overhaul in the approach, shifting away from “uncontrolled mass migration” to focus on getting British youngsters into work.
To combat rising employment costs, it recommends a new “Future Workforce Credit” to incentivise the hiring of NEETs, replacing existing schemes which research shows employers rarely notice as they are not generous enough.
The CSJ plan has won cross-party backing with endorsements from former Labour cabinet minister Lord David Blunkett and former Conservative chancellor Sir Jeremy Hunt, who have written forewords to Wasted Youth.
The Credit would help employers to recruit and upskill NEETs by paying an employer 30 per cent of a Neets salary, half upfront and half after six months of continuous employment.
In its first year, the CSJ estimate the Credit would help almost 120,000 NEETs into work – reversing almost all of the rise in NEETs seen since the pandemic.
CSJ modelling finds the Credit would be fiscally positive, netting tax and welfare savings worth £765 million. But the cost of the £670 million “effective tax cut for employers” should be covered by the savings from the removal of Universal Credit (UC) Health eligibility among claimants under 22.
The CSJ says that young people should not be “abandoned to welfare”. Instead, it calls on the Government to “follow through” on reforms to UC Health for under 22s, and to narrow eligibility to Personal Independence Payments (PIP) and UC Health among claimants with less severe mental health conditions.
Their analysis suggests that this would save £7.4 billion, at least £1 billion of which should then be reinvested into expanding NHS Talking Therapies and improving employment support to help young people into work and recover.
The report also calls for the requirement for UK employers to advertise vacancies to domestic workers before offering them to applicants under a work visa scheme to be “urgently reinstated”.
Alongside this, the think tank says that the Government must expand the Connect to Work scheme and Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs).
Rt Hon the Lord David Blunkett, former Secretary of State for Education and Employment, said:
“The last Labour Government’s New Deal for Young People proved that with the right approach we can take young people away from a life on benefits and into the world of work, growing the economy and transforming lives at the same time.
“I welcome this plan from the Centre for Social Justice, in particular the proposed Future Workforce Credit to help employers hire and upskill a new generation of talent. This is how we stop hundreds of thousands being written off and get Britain working again.”
Rt Hon Sir Jeremy Hunt MP, former Chancellor of the Exchequer, said:
“This is an important and timely report. The sharp rise in economic inactivity among young people is one of the biggest structural threats to our long-term growth and public finances.
“The Centre for Social Justice has set out a serious plan to get Britain’s young people back to work. I strongly support the principle behind the Future Workforce Credit and their proposals to reform mental health benefits.
“Given the soaring cost of hiring, ministers must take bold action this Autumn to support businesses and help more British youngsters reap all of the benefits that come with a job. The future of our economy depends on it.”
Joe Shalam, Policy Director at the CSJ, said:
“We know it will be a difficult Autumn for the Government but businesses and British youngsters desperately need a break.
“To achieve growth we must build a more resilient economic model, ending uncontrolled mass migration and unlocking the talent in our communities instead. The Prime Minister is right, one million jobless young people is a moral and economic disaster.
“At a time when many under 25s are feeling down and out, and with employers struggling to pay the bills, the CSJ’s plan would boost the economy, reduce the benefit bill and most importantly, change lives.”
Kieran Breen, CEO of Leicestershire Cares, added:
“Giving employers a financial incentive to hire NEET young people is an excellent one. Some of our young people are really keen to work and just need an understanding of what’s available. There are others who have an “Uber Mindset” towards work, meaning they want a more flexible situation which usually isn’t available for their skillset.
However, we work with a lot of businesses who – once they make connections with young people – are keen to bring them on board. The Future Workforce Credit is a positive step forward to bringing young people into the economy and encouraging employers to take a second look at this forgotten generation.”
The report comes as David Miles, an executive at the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR), warned that immigration is creating “serious problems” for public services and living standards, and that Labour must prioritise getting Britons back to work instead of relying on overseas workers to grow the economy.
Earlier this month more than 100 industry bosses, including Toyota and JCB, wrote to the Chancellor to back CSJ proposals for new tax incentives to hire young people.
