ARE welcomes Alan Milburn’s interim analysis of the NEET crisis and urges action on systemic racism
Action for Race Equality (ARE) welcomes Alan Miliburn’s interim analysis highlighting the urgent need for government action on the growing number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). With over one million young people affected, this must remain a top national priority.
ARE strongly supports the ambition to ensure that all young people have access to good-quality jobs, training, and apprenticeships. However, any effective response must fully recognise and address the persistent racial inequalities that shape access to opportunity.
Black, Asian and Mixed Heritage young people are disproportionately represented among those who are NEET and unemployed. This is not coincidental: it reflects structural barriers, including discrimination within the labour market, unequal access to networks, and long-standing disparities in education and employment outcomes.
Previous government action has shown that targeted interventions can make a difference. Programmes delivered through the Department for Work and Pensions under the last Labour government acknowledged these disparities and sought to address them directly. It is essential that current policy builds on this learning.
ARE urges the Department for Work and Pensions and Alan Milburn to ensure that ethnicity is not overlooked in the development of future reforms. A race-conscious approach is critical to tackling the systemic disadvantages that continue to limit the life chances of ethnic minority young people.
Without targeted action, there is a real risk that existing inequalities will deepen, leaving a generation further behind. Addressing the NEET challenge must therefore go hand in hand with a commitment to racial justice.
Jeremy Crook OBE, ARE Chief Executive
Note:
Youth Futures research highlights that young people from Black, Pakistani and Bangladeshi backgrounds are at increased risk of being NEET.
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