Almost 1 million young people in Britain are out of work, while 27 non-EU immigrants are hired for each citizen under 25, according to new research highlighting the effects of mass immigration on unemployment.
An interim report commissioned by the UK Department for Work and Pensions in November 2025 and published on Thursday found that 957,000 young
people aged 16 to 24, or 1 in 8, are not employed, in education or any training (NEET), representing the highest figure in over a decade.
The report predicted the figure will rise to 1.25 million in the next five years, warned Britain risked creating a “lost generation”, and highlighted systemic and societal issues, a sharp decline of entry level jobs, the halving of hospitality vacancies, and “skill mismatches”.
Apprenticeships were also found to be down 35% over the last decade, and the youth unemployment crisis is estimated to cost the UK more than £125 billion per year due to lost productivity and tax revenue, and increased welfare and benefits spending.
At the same time, research from think tank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) found that the young British workforce has grown by less than 1% since 2020, while the number of non-EU youth on the UK payroll has increased by 355%, the Daily Mail reported.
The number of immigrants from non-EU countries working in retail or hospitality doubled between 2020 and 2025, while the number British citizens in the same sectors fell by 250,000.
CSJ policy director Joe Shalam said the government should give tax breaks to employers that hire young people, restrict welfare, and require employers to advertise vacancies to local candidates before opening roles up to those on working visas.
“Protecting Britain from under-cut labour is an essential first step to improving the pay, conditions and training opportunities for British young people,” he said.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Young British people are being locked out of the labour market as immigration into entry-level work continues at scale. Mass immigration undermines our society and low wage immigration is bad for the economy.”
The author of the unemployment report, former Labour minister Alan Milburn, told BBC News young Brits were facing a “perfect storm” of challenges.
“This is a visceral feeling in the country…it’s bordering on a fear in the country among parents and grandparents that this generation is going to be a lost generation,” he said.
“The old contract in society was always: you put in effort and got a reward, each generation would do better than the last – this contract has been broken for this generation.”
A 19-year-old from Grimsby named Cohen told the Guardian: “Retail was a big thing for a lot of people at one point. But a lot of its closing down now. It’s now made up of vape shops and barbers and not ones where you can get a job.”
The interim report rejected claims that young people do not want to work, saying that 84% of NEETs surveyed said that they did want a job or training.
The final report, which will propose potential solutions, is expected to be published between June and August.
Header image credit: Vitaly Gariev (Pexels).
