The 2025 Impetus Youth Jobs Gap report reveals how multiple layers of disadvantage affect young people’s chances of not being in employment, education or training (NEET).

Triple jeopardy: Young people who are from low socio-economic backgrounds, who have low qualifications and also have SEND are almost three times more likely to be not in education, training or employment (NEET) than the average.

Geographical divides: The ten local authority areas with the highest NEET challenges include both urban areas and coastal towns, underlining a geographically uneven playing field.

Marginalised communities: Young people from Gypsy, Roma, and Irish Traveller groups face some of the greatest risk of exclusion from the labour market.

Working with the National Institute for Social and Economic Research (NIESR), and sponsored by Ares Charitable Foundation for the latest Youth Jobs Gap report, Impetus analysed the government’s Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset to explore how combinations of characteristics that impact NEET rates compared to the average. For the first time it shows the links between socio-economic background, level of qualification, identity characteristics and employment outcomes, giving us the clearest picture to date of the factors associated with employment outcomes for different groups of young people.

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