UK Youth Unemployment Hits Record as Non-EU Hiring Surges 355 Percent
Employers have hired 27 young non-EU migrants for every young Briton since 2020, as Britain's NEET population reaches 1.01 million and youth unemployment climbs to its highest level since 2014.
Employers have hired 27 young migrants from outside the European Union for every young British person since 2020. The ratio exposes a labor market that increasingly favors overseas workers, leaving native youth struggling to find entry-level jobs in their own country.
The Centre for Social Justice analyzed HMRC payroll data to reveal the hiring disparity. Non-EU under-25 employment surged from 82,000 to 370,000 during that period, a 355 percent increase. UK-national under-25 employment grew by only 11,000, a mere 0.3 percent. The gap widens as Britain's NEET population reaches 1.01 million young people, the highest level since 2013. The crisis now costs the economy £125 billion annually.
"This is not a failure of young people. It is a failure of a system stuck in the past," states Alan Milburn, former Labour health secretary who chairs a government-commissioned review of youth unemployment. Milburn warns Britain risks creating a "lost generation" but explicitly states there is "no evidence of a link between migration and joblessness among young people."
The raw numbers tell a different story. Between December 2024 and December 2025, non-EU under-25 payroll employment rose by 33,200 while UK-national under-25s fell by 32,200. This accelerating divergence demonstrates the trend is worsening, not abating.
Entry-level sectors show the most dramatic displacement. Non-EU workers of all ages in retail and hospitality rose by 473,000 between January 2020 and December 2025, nearly doubling. UK nationals in those same sectors fell by 252,000. These roles historically served as the first rung on the career ladder for young British workers.
"We cannot ignore the role almost half a million more non-EU migrants being employed in sectors like retail and hospitality since 2020 has played in fuelling the NEETs crisis," argues Joe Shalam, policy director at the Centre for Social Justice. "Starter roles are simply vanishing across the jobs market."
The crisis now affects 1.01 million young people not in education, employment, or training, according to Office for National Statistics data. Milburn's interim report estimates this costs the UK £125 billion per year in lost economic potential, reduced future earnings and increased benefits spending. Some 60 percent of NEETs have never held a job, up from 40 percent in 2000. An 84 percent majority want to work but cannot find opportunities.
Policy choices compound the displacement. Employer costs have soared, with National Insurance contributions increasing from 13.8 percent to 15 percent from April 2025. Thresholds cut from £9,100 to £5,000. The combined cost of employing someone aged 18-20 has risen 26 percent since 2024, a £4,095 increase, according to the Centre for Policy Studies.
"Poor mental health, access to benefits, and weak employment support are all part of the problem," Shalam states. "But the labour market these young people are trying to enter matters too."
Political opposition voices demand accountability. "Young British people are being locked out of the labour market as immigration into entry-level work continues at scale," argues Chris Philp, the Conservative shadow home secretary. "Mass immigration undermines our society and low wage immigration is bad for the economy."
Philp calls for a binding annual immigration cap, closing loopholes that let temporary visa holders stay indefinitely, and tightening conditions for indefinite leave to remain. Reform UK's Zia Yusuf states British workers are "being pushed to the back of the queue while mass immigration continues. Young Brits should be first in line for jobs, training and opportunities in their own country."
The Labour government counters with what Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden calls "the biggest youth employment reforms in a generation." His Youth Jobs Grant aims to create 500,000 opportunities, including subsidised employment and more apprenticeships. Critics argue this falls far short given the scale of the crisis.
"Young people in this country have endless potential and yet the choices made by governments of all stripes have locked so much of it away," states Sir Iain Duncan Smith, former work and pensions secretary and CSJ founder.
The CSJ proposes concrete solutions. Reinstating the Resident Labour Market Test, abolished in 2020, would require employers to advertise jobs to British workers first. Implementing a Future Workforce Credit would offer a 30 percent salary tax cut for hiring young people. Tightening health-related benefits would prevent young people being "written off" with mental health claims.
Britain's youth unemployment rate for 16-24-year-olds stood at 16.1 percent in the three months to December 2025, the highest level since 2014, including the pandemic. For the first time in records, it exceeds the EU average of 14.9 percent. Some 20 percent of all UK employees were adult migrants in December 2025, up from 12 percent in July 2014, according to Oxford Migration Observatory data.
In London, 64 percent of hospitality roles are held by non-UK employees, the highest sector-region pairing in the country. The first rung of Britain's career ladder has thinned beyond recognition for a generation facing what Milburn calls a "bedroom generation" of worklessness while political elites continue importing record levels of overseas labor.