[An investigation into NEET's. (Not in Employment Education or Training.)]

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NEET

The term NEET stands for "Not in Education, Employment, or Training". This is a government initiative that was taken by the government of the United Kingdom but the concept was rapidly employed by other countries such as Korea, Japan and China. DfES, which is a department of the central government of the UK has been entrusted with the responsibility or laying down the targets for NEET. BRITAIN could lose a generation to unemployment, trade unions warned yesterday. They spoke out as figures revealed record numbers of youngsters dropping out of school, college and work across the UK. The statistics showed an annual increase of more than 100,000 in the number of 18 to 24-year-olds considered to be "NEET" - not in education, employment or training. The hike is thought to have been fuelled by the recession and a lack of jobs available for school and university leavers. In total, one in six 18 to 24year-olds - that's 835,000 across the UK - are NEET. This figure is up from 730,000 for the same quarter last year. Guarantee TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "We cannot afford to lose another generation of young people to unemployment and underachievement. "Tackling this crisis won't come cheap. We need more employers to take on apprentices and the Government must ensure its guarantee of training or work for young people out of work continues to be well funded, as demand will be high (DAVIES, W.M. 2005).

"NEETS are likely to have low skills and poor experience, so the training and work on offer must be meaningful. "Otherwise, it will just be a stopgap before further unemployment." The statistics, published by the Department for Children, Schools and Families, also show a surge in the number of 16 to 18-year-old NEETs. There are now 233,000 in this group, 13,000 more than last year (Wynne, 2005).

BRITAIN has become the 'Neet' capital of Western Europe, according to an analysis of the performance of youngsters across the continent. In just five years, 12 EU countries have overhauled Britain and now have fewer youngsters adrift without qualifications or hope. Among them are France, Germany, Belgium, Holland and Ireland. Even the likes of Romania and Bulgaria have now overtaken Britain in terms of their proportion of young men and women with decent education and job chances, the EU research showed. The comparisons were published at a time of deepening concern over Britain's growing army of Neets - which stands for young people 'not in employment, education or training'. Nearly one in five 18-year-old boys and one in six girls count as Neets, and earlier this month a count from the Department for Work and Pensions found that there are 1.5million people in Britain who have never done a day's work in their lives. Of these, 600,000 are under the age of 25. In wealthier countries, a very high proportion of such young people are also jobless. In the UK, ...