An uneven distribution: NEETs in Wales

There is growing public concern with the number of young people who are not in some kind of education, employment or training (NEET) in Wales today.  Latest figures from the Annual Population Survey showed that 23.6% of people aged 19 – 24 were not in education, employment or training (Q2, 2011).  However, this may be a problem which affects some areas more than others, which is important when seeking solutions to reduce the number of young people who are NEET in Wales.  Given what we know about the links between locality and participation in education and the labour market, you would expect to find that these young people are not evenly distributed across Wales.

Indeed the Annual Population Survey break down of young people who are NEET highlights stark differences between local authorities, however given the limited sample size this data is not the best quality.  Despite this drawback it does show large differences in the average proportion of young people who were NEET between the years 2008-2010.  For this period, Merthyr Tydfil had the highest (26.7%), and Flintshire the lowest (9.2%).

The annual survey carried out by Careers Wales provides more reliable findings given that it is based upon a full sample of the entire age cohort.  This survey also points to an uneven distribution of young people who are NEET.  They surveyed the entire age cohort and look at how many school leavers went on to some form of education or work, and who did not.  Their latest survey identified marked differences between local authorities in the proportion of the year 11 cohort who were found to be NEET in 2010.  The proportion of young people who are NEET is clearly a greater problem in some localities than it is in others.  Ceredigion, Flintshire, Powys and Camarthenshire all had less than 3% of the year 11 cohort who were NEET.  Whereas other localities the problem appears to be much greater.  Cardiff had the highest with 8.8% of its year 11 leavers found to be NEET, closely followed by Blaenau Gwent (8.7%), Merthyr Tydfil (7.6%), and Newport (7.5%).

Table 1:  Proportion of year 11 leavers who are NEET by local authority (2010)

The causes of such uneven distributions across localities are likely to be complex and multifaceted.  Clearly the biggest factor is likely to be entrenched deprivation within some localities, however there may also be issues to do with the uneven distribution of education and employment opportunities.

Given this uneven distribution, and the likely differing causes, it would seem that different solutions are needed across different localities.  We need to find out more about the processes by which young people from different localities end up NEET, and what may be done to help them back in to some form of education, training or employment.  There are already numerous initiatives and projects in place to help people, but with the numbers of young people who are NEET increasing, and not falling, we also need to evaluate whether such current activities are working.

Michael Donnelly is Research and Policy Officer at the Bevan Foundation