In a sobering report to be released next week, former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn says businesses must adapt with more flexibility and mental health support for young people, or face an 'economic catastrophe.'
Milburn, commissioned by Prime Minister Keir Starmer in late 2025, is examining the crisis of nearly 1 million 16- to 24-year-olds-about 1 in 8-not in education, employment, or training (NEETs).
More than half of these NEETs have never worked, and a quarter cannot work due to long-term sickness. Of those, 43% cite mental health problems as the primary cause, up sharply from 24% in 2011.
Milburn calls them an 'anxious generation,' arguing that social media and smartphones have rewired their brains, impacting sleep, concentration, and workplace readiness. He warns they risk being 'written off' entirely.
The UK has about double the NEET rate of Japan or Ireland, and three times that of the Netherlands. Unemployment before age 23 has been linked to lower wages two decades later.
Milburn insists this generation is not lazy or 'snowflakes,' but fundamentally different, shaped by a digital world. At the same time, falling net migration may push businesses to look to these young people as a solution to labor shortages.