Further education and training opportunities
Data on the percentage of 16 to 18 year olds in education, training and employment.
Summary main findings
93% of 16 to 18 year olds were in education, training or employment in 2021, compared with 91% in 2011.
6% of 16 to 18 year olds were not in any form of education, employment or training (known as ‘NEET’) in 2021, compared with 10% in 2011.
By year
Visualisation for by year
Percentage of 16 to 18 year olds in education, training or employment, over time (UK, 2011 to 2021)
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Data for by year
| Year | Employment (%) | Education (including apprenticeships and work-based learning) (%) | Other training (%) | Not in employment, education or training (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8.0 | 81.2 | 4.4 | 6.4 |
| 2020 | 7.0 | 82.1 | 4.2 | 6.7 |
| 2019 | 7.4 | 81.3 | 4.6 | 6.7 |
| 2018 | 7.8 | 80.7 | 5.0 | 6.6 |
| 2017 | 7.9 | 80.5 | 5.2 | 6.4 |
| 2016 | 7.3 | 81.2 | 5.2 | 6.3 |
| 2015 | 6.9 | 81.3 | 5.1 | 6.6 |
| 2014 | 6.5 | 81.1 | 4.8 | 7.6 |
| 2013 | 6.9 | 80.9 | 4.5 | 7.7 |
| 2012 | 7.1 | 79.3 | 4.4 | 9.2 |
| 2011 | 6.8 | 79.5 | 4.0 | 9.8 |
Download for by year
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source
Department for Education, Participation in education, training and employment, 2022
Time period
2011 to 2021
Geographic area
England
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of young people aged 16 to 18 years old in education, training and employment in England, from 2011 to 2021.
Things you need to know
A person identified as NEET is either unemployed or economically inactive. In previous data, there have been very small overlaps of students studying in further or higher education, and work-based learning at the same time. The total number of young people in training is calculated by removing these overlaps.
Since 2013, 16 to 17 year olds have been legally required to remain in education and training (at least part-time) in England, but not in Wales, Scotland or Northern Ireland.
Data for 2020 and 2021 may be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Type of data
Administrative data
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 9KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Indicator code
- Indicator name
- Area type
- Area code
- Area name
- Time period
- Age
- Sex
- Category type
- Category
- Value
- Sample size
- Unit