Youth unemployment
Published:
12 September 2023
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Data on the percentage of 16 to 24 year olds who were unemployed in the UK from 2014 to 2021.
Summary main findings
The youth unemployment rate was 13% in 2021, having gone up to nearly 16% in 2020.
By year
Visualisation
Percentage of 16 to 24 year olds who were unemployed (UK, 2014 to 2021)
Data
| Year | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 13.1 |
| 2020 | 15.9 |
| 2019 | 13.1 |
| 2018 | 12.3 |
| 2017 | 13.2 |
| 2016 | 14.3 |
| 2015 | 15.3 |
| 2014 | 17.5 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
By area
Visualisation
Percentage of 16 to 24 year olds who were unemployed, by region (UK, 2018 to 2021 combined)
41 regions in the UK are ranked from the lowest to highest percentages. They are then divided into 5 equally-sized groups (‘quintiles’), from 1 (lowest) to 5 (highest).
The regional estimates have a large margin of error – do not rank or compare specific regions.
The lines either side of the dots represent confidence intervals – the range of values that the 'true' value for each region is highly likely to be within. In many cases the confidence intervals overlap. This suggests differences between specific regions may not be statistically significant.
See the composite indices for more precise estimates and to understand overall regional patterns.
Data
| Region | Percentage (%) |
|---|---|
| Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire | 12.4 |
| Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire | 11.8 |
| Cheshire | 10.8 |
| Cornwall and Isles of Scilly | 12.6 |
| Cumbria | 10.9 |
| Derbyshire and Nottinghamshire | 16.0 |
| Devon | 12.2 |
| Dorset and Somerset | 11.7 |
| East Anglia | 13.8 |
| East Wales | 14.3 |
| East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire | 18.5 |
| Eastern Scotland | 12.2 |
| Essex | 10.7 |
| Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bath/Bristol area | 10.5 |
| Greater Manchester | 18.9 |
| Hampshire and Isle of Wight | 12.7 |
| Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire | 10.9 |
| Highlands and Islands | 4.2 |
| Inner London - East | 24.5 |
| Inner London - West | 24.3 |
| Kent | 14.9 |
| Lancashire | 11.7 |
| Leicestershire, Rutland and Northamptonshire | 15.7 |
| Lincolnshire | 13.5 |
| Merseyside | 11.5 |
| North Eastern Scotland | 13.1 |
| North Yorkshire | 10.4 |
| Northern Ireland | 9.5 |
| Northumberland and Tyne and Wear | 15.7 |
| Outer London - East and North East | 18.2 |
| Outer London - South | 23.0 |
| Outer London - West and North West | 21.7 |
| Shropshire and Staffordshire | 13.3 |
| South Yorkshire | 12.8 |
| Southern Scotland | 15.0 |
| Surrey, East and West Sussex | 11.5 |
| Tees Valley and Durham | 15.8 |
| West Central Scotland | 10.6 |
| West Midlands | 17.4 |
| West Wales and The Valleys | 12.6 |
| West Yorkshire | 15.7 |
Download
For the full download file, see Download the data.
About the data
Data source
Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Time period
2014 to 2021
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows unemployment rates for 16 to 24 year olds in the UK.
Unemployment is measured as the percentage of economically active 16 to 24 year olds who are currently out of work but looking for a job.
Rates are rounded to 1 decimal place.
Things you need to know
The data does not include people who are economically inactive because they are either:
- in full-time education
- looking after the home
- permanently sick or disabled
Data is weighted using LFS probability weights.
The error bars show 95% confidence intervals. These intervals show where we expect the true value from a population to be 95% of the time. For example, a confidence interval with the range of values from 5 to 10 implies that there is a 95% chance that the true population value is between 5 and 10, and a 5% chance that it is outside of this range. The narrower the confidence interval or range, the more precise the estimate. Read more about confidence intervals
Type of data
Survey data, weighted
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2023 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 7KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Indicator code
- Indicator name
- Area type
- Area code
- Area name
- Time period
- Socio-economic background
- Sex
- Value
- Sample size
- Lower confidence interval
- Upper confidence interval
- Standard error
- Unit
Page history
Publication release date:
12 September 2023