Destinations following the end of compulsory full-time education
Published:
18 December 2025
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Data on young people aged 16 to 24 years in the UK who were in education and training, employment or NEET (not in employment, education or training), by socio-economic background.
Summary main findings
In 2024, young people aged 16 to 24 years from higher professional backgrounds were the most likely to be in education and training out of all socio-economic backgrounds. People from lower working-class backgrounds were the most likely to be NEET.
In the 3-year period to 2024, the percentage of young people aged 16 to 24 who were ‘NEET’ (not in education, employment or training) went up from 13% to 14%, similar to pre-COVID-19 levels. Young people from lower working class backgrounds had a NEET rate of 22% in the most recent 3-year period, compared with 9% for those from higher professional backgrounds.
This gap has remained similar since the 3-year period to 2016, and the rate for young people from lower working class backgrounds is significantly higher than for any other socio-economic background group, including higher working class.
Social class differences in the percentages of young people in education and training, employment or NEET were similar among young men and women.
Out of all ethnic groups, the percentage of people from lower working-class backgrounds who were NEET was highest in the Mixed (25%), Black Caribbean (25%) and White British (23%) ethnic groups. It was lowest in the Chinese, Indian and Black African ethnic groups (all 19%).
Young people with a disability were much less likely to be in employment and much more likely to be NEET than those without a disability, across all socio-economic backgrounds. Levels of people in education and training were similar between the 2 groups.
By socio-economic background
Visualisation
Percentage of young people aged 16 to 24 years who were in education and training, employment or NEET, by socio-economic background (UK, 2024)
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Data
| Socio-economic background | Education and training (%) | Employment (%) | NEET (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Higher professional | 38.5 | 52.8 | 8.6 |
| Lower professional | 30.2 | 56.6 | 13.2 |
| Intermediate | 32.5 | 55.2 | 12.3 |
| Higher working | 30.2 | 51.2 | 18.6 |
| Lower working | 33.7 | 44.4 | 21.9 |
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Changes over time
Visualisation
Percentage of young people aged 16 to 24 years who were not in employment, education or training (NEET), (UK, 2014 to 2024, 3-year averages)
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Data
| Year | Lower working (%) | Higher working (%) | Intermediate (%) | Lower professional (%) | Higher professional (%) | Total (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 to 2024 | 22.0 | 17.0 | 12.3 | 11.9 | 8.9 | 13.9 |
| 2021 to 2023 | 21.0 | 13.9 | 12.0 | 11.0 | 9.3 | 13.0 |
| 2020 to 2022 | 20.8 | 12.1 | 11.3 | 10.8 | 9.7 | 12.6 |
| 2019 to 2021 | 20.8 | 13.1 | 12.0 | 10.9 | 9.8 | 13.0 |
| 2018 to 2020 | 20.8 | 14.2 | 11.7 | 11.1 | 9.4 | 13.1 |
| 2017 to 2019 | 20.4 | 14.6 | 11.6 | 10.6 | 9.0 | 13.1 |
| 2016 to 2018 | 21.5 | 13.7 | 11.3 | 10.4 | 8.5 | 13.0 |
| 2015 to 2017 | 22.1 | 14.0 | 11.8 | 9.9 | 8.6 | 13.3 |
| 2014 to 2016 | 22.8 | 15.3 | 12.7 | 10.2 | 8.5 | 14.0 |
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By sex
Visualisation
Percentage of young people aged 16 to 24 years in education and training, employment and NEET, by socio-economic background and sex (UK, 2014 to 2024 combined)
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Data
| Socio-economic background | Sex | Education and training (%) | Employment (%) | NEET (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher professional | Men | 36.4 | 53.8 | 9.8 |
| Women | 37.5 | 54.4 | 8.2 | |
| Lower professional | Men | 30.3 | 57.9 | 11.8 |
| Women | 32.2 | 57.9 | 10.0 | |
| Intermediate | Men | 29.6 | 57.8 | 12.6 |
| Women | 28.4 | 60.0 | 11.6 | |
| Higher working | Men | 27.9 | 57.4 | 14.7 |
| Women | 28.3 | 56.8 | 14.9 | |
| Lower working | Men | 31.5 | 46.6 | 21.9 |
| Women | 30.6 | 48.0 | 21.4 |
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By ethnicity
Visualisation
Percentage of young people aged 16 to 24 from lower working-class and higher professional backgrounds in NEET, by ethnic group (UK, 2014 to 2024 combined)
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Data
| Ethnicity | Socio-economic background | Education and training (%) | Employment (%) | NEET (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bangladeshi | Higher professional | 57.4 | 35.3 | 8.8 |
| Lower working | 48.6 | 30.6 | 21.4 | |
| Chinese | Higher professional | 64.4 | 29.4 | 7.6 |
| Lower working | 55.8 | 25.2 | 18.9 | |
| Indian | Higher professional | 56.1 | 37.8 | 7.6 |
| Lower working | 47.2 | 32.9 | 18.9 | |
| Pakistani | Higher professional | 60.8 | 32.1 | 8.5 |
| Lower working | 52.1 | 27.6 | 21.0 | |
| Black African | Higher professional | 64.5 | 29.4 | 7.8 |
| Lower working | 56.0 | 25.1 | 19.3 | |
| Black Caribbean | Higher professional | 44.8 | 44.7 | 10.6 |
| Lower working | 36.2 | 39.5 | 25.2 | |
| Mixed | Higher professional | 47.7 | 41.8 | 10.7 |
| Lower working | 39.0 | 36.7 | 25.3 | |
| White British | Higher professional | 33.7 | 56.5 | 9.4 |
| Lower working | 26.2 | 51.2 | 22.9 | |
| White other | Higher professional | 42.3 | 50.5 | 8.1 |
| Lower working | 33.9 | 45.2 | 20.0 | |
| Other | Higher professional | 60.9 | 32.7 | 7.9 |
| Lower working | 52.1 | 28.2 | 19.6 |
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By disability status
Visualisation
Percentage of young people aged 16 to 24 years in education and training, employment, and NEET, by socio-economic background and disability (UK, 2014 to 2024 combined)
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Data
| Socio-economic background | Disabled | Education and training (%) | Employment (%) | NEET (%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Higher professional | Yes | 34.1 | 44.0 | 21.9 |
| No | 37.2 | 55.1 | 7.8 | |
| Lower professional | Yes | 32.3 | 39.8 | 27.9 |
| No | 31.1 | 60.2 | 8.8 | |
| Intermediate | Yes | 28.9 | 40.9 | 30.2 |
| No | 29.0 | 61.1 | 9.8 | |
| Higher working | Yes | 26.1 | 33.3 | 40.6 |
| No | 28.4 | 60.1 | 11.5 | |
| Lower working | Yes | 32.3 | 22.9 | 44.8 |
| No | 30.8 | 52.8 | 16.4 |
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About the data
Data source
Office for National Statistics, Labour Force Survey (LFS)
Time period
- 2024 (By socio-economic background)
- 2014 to 2024, 3-year averages (Changes over time)
- 2014 to 2024 combined (By sex, ethnicity and disability status)
Geographic area
UK
What the data measures
The data shows the percentage of young people aged 16 to 24 years in the UK who were in education and training, employment or ‘NEET’ (not in employment, education or training).
NEET is defined as not in employment, education or training in the week before the survey.
Socio-economic background (SEB) is based on the main earner’s occupation when the respondent was aged 14 years. Where there was no earner in the family, SEB is included in the lower working class.
Things you need to know
Due to changes in our model and how we created the ethnicity and NEET variables, the findings are not comparable to those from previous years.
The data used is weighted using the LFS person weights.
For changes over time plotting, we use a 3-year moving average. The data spans from 2014 to 2024, with the first data point covering 2014 to 2016 and the final data point covering 2022 to 2024. A formal test was conducted to test for differences in the SEB gap between 2014 and 2024. This was not significant.
Data by sex, ethnicity and disability status from 2014 to 2024 is combined to get more accurate estimates.
For data by ethnicity, the estimated percentages shown are those for men. We show percentages only for those with lower working-class and higher professional backgrounds for illustrative purposes.
For data by disability status, respondents were asked if they had a health condition or illness lasting 12 months or more, and if that condition reduced their ability to carry out day-to-day activities. This is consistent with the definition of disability in the Equality Act 2010.
Type of data
Survey data
Full report
Read more in State of the Nation 2025 on GOV.UK.
Download the data
Download full dataset (CSV, 46KB)
This file contains the following variables:
- Measure code
- Measure title
- Chart type
- Area code
- Area type
- Area name
- Primary split type
- Primary split value
- Secondary split type
- Secondary split value
- Tertiary split type
- Tertiary split value
- Time period
- Value
- Lower confidence interval
- Upper confidence interval
- Sample size
- Unit
- Value note
Page history
Publication release date:
18 December 2025