A MILLION YOUNG BRITS JUST DROPPED OUT

A million young Brits aren't working or studying. We were both NEETs, so we'd know. Two expats unpack why an entire generation checked out, and where all the first jobs went.

The UK just passed one million 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training, the highest since 2013. Jack and Adam (both former NEETs) get into what's actually behind it: the death of the Saturday job, 1.6 million low and mid-skilled jobs that have vanished, hospitality vacancies halved, and a high street that's now mostly barbers and vape shops. Is it a lazy generation, or did the entry-level rungs just disappear?

00:00 What even is a NEET? 01:00 The time Adam got sent on a course 03:20 Why a million young people stopped looking for work 04:45 The death of the Saturday job 09:45 The 1.6 million jobs that vanished 11:00 Why every high street is barbers and vape shops

#NEET #UKJobs #TemporallyScripted

Subscribe to our channel on YouTube

Check out our website at temporallyscripted.com

Follow us on X, too!

Transcript

0:00

So have you heard this thing in the UK where there's like NEETs everywhere? Have you heard about these NEETs? No. What is a NEET? NEETs, mate. They're everywhere. So 13% of 16 to 24-year-olds are now classed as a NEET, which means not in education, employment, or training. So basically bumming around making TikTok videos. Sounds pretty good. Do you think I can go back to the UK and become a NEET? Yeah. I don't even know if you need to apply. Um- Dunno if I'm too old or what. Yeah. I'll, I'll ask ChatGPT. In fact, yeah, did we not just use to call this unemployed? Pretty much, yeah. Um- Like- Which is exactly what it is … although technically, you know, down at the, if you go down to the job center and you're there long enough, they usually chuck you on a course, don't they? I had a few mates do that. They're like, "Oh, he hasn't had a job for a few months, let's chuck him on a course." And it's like, you know, here's how you write your name. Um, bring in a little book to prove that you applied for two jobs yesterday. Like- Yeah, I actually did that. But I, I guess I was a NEET at one point. Um, and- There you go … and they did indeed send me on a course. Um- Look at you now. Exactly. Clearly, it clearly worked wonders. What was the course like? What did they teach you on there? Uh, there was like a week where there was, uh, this guy on, like this video course by a guy called Lou Tice, who's this American dude. Uh, t- it was basically like self-help and motivational speaking. So did that, did, did a workbook, and then they took us to Scotland. Don't know if that was a punishment or, uh, uh, I'm not, I'm not too sure. How long were you signed in a box for? Uh, but, but yeah, so they took us to Scotland for like, I think it was about four days or something, and had us doing like canoeing and rock climbing and all that kind of thing. And then- Sorry, can I just check, you were signed on? This wasn't like you were-- went, had to go to magistrates court and afterwards they made you go on a course, right? I'm just checking. No. It was, it was legitimately just, uh, signed on 'cause I guess I hadn't had a job for like six months or something. Ah, yeah, they do, yeah. And so did that. And then they put me on like New Deal for Musicians where, when, oh, we'll give you, uh, we'll pay you basically, and then you just have to go to a studio once a week, record some stuff. Nice. So I don't- Nice … yeah, it didn't last long. But y- yeah, I didn't stay there for very long. And I don't-- maybe the New Deal thing helped some people, but I don't, don't see how that was helping many people. But it might have. I'm really glad I spent my 20s working 45 hours a week in a corporate office for 12 grand a year. So I didn't have to. Yeah. Yeah. Was it? I'm glad I did, you know. I've got at least £2,500 in my pension. Fantastic. That's awesome. So I, I can imagine there were some characters on this trip to, uh, Scotland. Uh, yeah. There, there certainly were. You know, I can imagine like the bus or the general area having a very fragrant aroma, uh, quite a lot of the time. Um- There, there definitely was. Um, for some people it was really good for- Uh, contacts and getting to know people and things like that as well. Um- Yeah. One of my friends got sent on a Chinese cookery course when he was- Oh, nice on that New Deal classroom thing. Um- Did you send him to China to make it authentic or? Oh, I mean, the, the way things work, you would've thought so, right? You know, while I'm there saving up for a two-week holiday in Scarborough. Um, you know. Uh, anyway, but back to this story. So yeah, there's, there's a million people in the UK that are now not in education, employment, and training. They're that age group of 16 to 24, and I, I think it's even more dangerous, right? Because that age, once you get from 16 to 24 without working ever, you, you probably start to lose the capability to, to ever do it. You know? It's like- Yeah, 'cause it's quite an important thing, I think. That first time you enter into the world of work and you get your first full-time job, it's quite a, a big thing, and I think if, if you make it to 24 having never worked, it's, it's just gonna be that little bit more difficult to get going and start, and in some ways, why would you want to? Yeah I, I don't know what the government- Yeah … does these days, but if, if you can be in a position where, okay, well, the government or the taxpayer essentially gives me money every week and that covers my rent, it covers my expenses, I can sit at home, play PlayStation. Hmm. Yeah. I feel like the, it's part of the responsibility for this is the death of the Saturday job. Because you obviously now, even if you're 16 or 15, whatever, you- there's still a minimum you're allowed to be paid. There's like… I remember I used to work washing pots or whatever, and it was like 2.50 an hour. But I'd- Hmm … still be happy to have like 15 quid in my pocket at the end of a Saturday or whatever, you know, 2.50, 3.50 an hour and, and it gave you that feeling of earning your own money, which is quite nice. It's a good feeling to like earn money from nothing and not have to ask someone to give it to you. It's too… It's a different feeling. So I think if people now, they never have that, they- we need to bring back, you know, Saturday jobs and just…'Cause the reason you got paid 2.50 an hour is 'cause you're footing rubbish. Do you know what I mean? So basically, so like as, as soon as you go, "Oh, no, you gotta give him like 10 quid," it's like, well, I'll just footing hire someone good for 12 quid. Um, but you know, for this, this like person who's got zero experience, skills, life experience, the whole point is they're rubbish, but they're super cheap. So, you know, and they might do funny ship that makes it worth giving them 15 quid for half a day's work. Like I, I don't see the problem with it. Yeah. I mean, that age as well, sort of 16 to 24, that you, you have the experience side. Some people at that age will be quite conscientious and really good at, at being an employee. I know many that won't. Um, I remember being about 23, 24 working in the supermarket, and I used to sort of ring in sick or turn up late quite often. So they gave- Hmm … me a disciplinary about my timekeeping and absenteeism, and on that day I rang in sick for the, the disciplinary so they rescheduled it. The next one- … the next one I turned up late and so they had to reschedule it again. And then the last one, for some reason, they fired me. I, I don't know why. But at that time- That sounds like that was out of order. Yeah. But they said, "Okay, well, that's it. You're gonna… We, we're gonna have to let you go." And this was like just at the beginning of a shift, and so I was like, "Well, g- do, do I have to work the whole shift or c- can I just go now?" And they're like,"No, we, we want you to leave now." But, but the thing was, this would've been back in- I don't know, 2004, something like that. I hated this job anyway, so I left it and went home, chilled out, good times. But literally the following week, I'd contacted an agency and was back at work doing something different, 'cause it was so easy- Yeah … back then. And I think now there's just… I can't remember the stats, but it's like, it's a huge amount of those like unskilled entry-level kind of jobs that have just kind of gone. Mm. They don't exist anymore. Yeah. And that whole thing of just going,"Oh, well, I'll just get like a, a bit of bar work or restaurant work." All of that industry has been getting less and less. I remember back in, back in Nuts probably, probably around 2010, 2011, but where there used to be loads of different bars, it was like a different bar or pub was shutting down at the rate of two a week. Mm. Uh, and it was when like a load of new taxes and different things came in. So compared to how it used to be, it's difficult to get just those, those jobs where you don't need training or you just wanna get a job quickly, and that's probably part of the problem as well. Yeah. Yeah, like when I was a kid, I used to go and wash cars in the village and get paid by people like door to door. But then you could also, like the town near me, Mablethorpe, I think the population's like 10 or 15,000 people. It's not a big place. Uh, there's only a couple of supermarkets, um, maybe some more now. But it's, you could just walk around and go into places and ask if they had any jobs going, and you'd get a job somewhere. I also worked in a supermarket in that town, in the Co-op, and I, w- when I started to not like it anymore, I was too scared to actually quit, so I just never went back in. Uh, but it was because it was the only supermarket in town, so I had to just like not go to the only supermarket in town- No way … for three years, four years, until I was brave enough to go back in and they were like, "Hey, what… You never came in for your shift." It's like- Four years ago … whoops. I just went into hiding. Like so again, it shows you- Never to be seen again. It shows you what it was like. But back then, yeah, you could. There was ways to like make a little bit of extra cash, um, and do stuff that, you know, didn't involve going and buying micro scales from Ice Nine or whatever. Exactly. And I mean, I've just, just looked it up and apparently according to The Independent, there are 1.6 million fewer low and medium skilled jobs, and hospitality vacancies have halved in the last four years, and apprenticeship starts have fallen by 35%. So it's, I, I think it's a mix of v- lack of opportunity, and that 1.6 million less skilled jobs is about the same number of NEETs, which is kind of interesting as well. Um, but also I wonder if, I wonder if any of this is like a, a side effect of lockdowns and all- Mm … the stuff we went through.'Cause if you think about it, it would be part of that generation that's coming through now. Yeah. Yeah, I think it definitely is also the impact on the economy and hospitality and stuff. As someone who's, you know, my brother's in the hospitality industry, it's difficult. It's not easy. And, but at least you have the government coming along and doing really helpful things like, "We're gonna reduce VAT on like, um, what's it called? Uh, like Alton Towers and entertainment for the summer, and we're gonna reduce VAT on kids' meals to 5%." It's like- … "Well, great." You know? How much of a difference is it gonna make? And, and, you know, and, and the thing is, the businesses that don't follow the law will just go and say all their meals are kids' meals. They'll just put like a thing at the top, you know, the, the same way as like, you know, how many haircuts does the average Turkish barbershop do in a day? It's, "Oh, no, we don't cut hair in here, mate. It's just money laundering." But, but every high street needs five of them and usually about 15 vape shops. Yeah, and phone shops that just are always empty but somehow manage to stay open longer than, like, T-Mobile. Yeah. And you go in with a problem and they can never, can never help you. Yeah. Right. Yeah. Souvenir shops that sell things for five times the price of anywhere else that no one ever buys from, but they still seem to be open on Park Lane, London. It's like, what's going on here, lads? You know. Um, anyway. Yeah. It definitely looks, uh, a little bit dodgy. Um- What, what a world to live in, you know? What a world to live in. It is, yeah. And that, it's just one of those things that I don't… I can't think of any answers to it. Do you, do you think there's a way to, to motivate people of this, in this age bracket of 16 to 24, or is there a way to get them inspired to get into education or start training? Yeah.'Cause I think, I think there's a big part of like this is, uh, there's so much negativity about everything where people are just, "What's the point?" And- Mm … uh, kids now are gonna go,"Well, I, how, how am I gonna get a house? I'll never be able to get a deposit. Even if I get married or whatever, that's not gonna happen." And then, "Why should I go to university? AI's gonna steal my job anyway." Yeah. Yeah. They should all start podcasts. They should do. Or get into lead generation. Or emigrate Yeah, but it's easier said than done, isn't it? Yeah. Because the good thing is when you come to like the East or other countries as a, a Western person, you're not an immigrant, you're an expat. You're only an immigrant if you go that way, um, to a Western country from a, from a poorer country, you know? Yeah. It's funny though, isn't it? Strange how that works. Yeah. The English language is, uh, so interesting. Absolutely. Well, that brings us to the end of this one. So ladies and gentlemen, if you are a NEET, leave us a comment. You know, we may well start our own NGO under the Temporarily Scripted name and- And give you a job … bring you guys into the world of, of podcasting, you know. Because yeah, that could work for you. But yeah, like, subscribe, tell your friends, and we'll see you in the next one. Thanks, Adam. Goodbye everybody.