Young people in the labour market Oct2016 (aged 16 to 24) Dec figures

Young people in the labour market December 2016

Introduction

This section looks at people aged from 16 to 24. It is a common misconception that all people in full-time education are classified as economically inactive. This is not the case as people in full-time education are included in the employment estimates if they have a part-time job and are included in the unemployment estimates if they are seeking part-time work.

Commentary

For August to October 2016, for people aged from 16 to 24, there were:

• 3.91 million people in work (including 907,000 full-time students with part-time jobs)
• 587,000 unemployed people (including 184,000 full-time students looking for part-time work)
• 2.68 million economically inactive people, most of whom (2.04 million) were full-time students

Figure 19: Young people (aged 16 to 24) in the UK labour market for August to October 2016, seasonally adjusted

Notes:

1. FTE = Full-time education.
2. The "Not in full-time education" series includes people in part-time education and/or some form of training.

Figure 20: Quarterly and annual changes in the number of young people (aged 16 to 24) in the UK labour market, seasonally adjusted

For August to October 2016, the unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was 13.1%, lower than for a year earlier (13.6%). It has not been lower since July to September 2005.

The unemployment rate for those aged from 16 to 24 has been consistently higher than that for older age groups. Since comparable records began in 1992:

• the lowest youth unemployment rate was 11.6% for March to May 2001
• the highest youth unemployment rate was 22.5% for late 2011

Between March to May 1992 (when comparable records began) and August to October 2016 the proportion of people aged from 16 to 24 who were in full-time education increased substantially from 26.2% to 43.7%. This increase in the number of young people going into full-time education has reduced the size of the economically active population (those in work plus those seeking and available to work) and therefore increased the unemployment rate (because the unemployment rate is the proportion of the economically active population who are unemployed).