The ‘lost generation’ myth ignores a record surge in young entrepreneurs

Britain’s young people are being labelled as NEETs — Not in Education, Employment or Training — but the evidence suggests a very different story. While more than one million young people are currently outside work, education or training, a record 13.7% of 18–24-year-olds are actively starting businesses. Far from being a lost generation, they may be a generation looking for Employment, Education or Training — LEETs — whose ambition is running ahead of a system that has failed to keep pace with their aspirations.

Young People are LEETs (Looking for Employment, Education or Training)

The big report for Alan Milburn yesterday saying that 1.1 million young people are NEET (not in education, employment or training) and that the figure will rise to 1.25 million in 5 years unless we get a grip on the issue is a very real warning. But NEETs is a very unfair terms as it turns out. They are LEETs and we need to change the language rather than using the negative phrase and give credit where it’s due. It’s not just the language that’s important though. It’s the Statistics. There are stats that show a completely different side to this story, and those stats are in the hands of Mark Hart, Professor of Entrepreneurship and Enterprise Policy @ Warwick Business School and Deputy Director of the Enterprise Research Centre (ERC). His take is rather more positive and inspiring: not a lost generation. An ambitious one that the system has not yet been built to support………

Yesterday, two statistics were jarring in my head that deserve to be read together.

The first is concerning. The number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) has passed one million for the first time since 2014. This week’s Milburn Review called it the risk of a “lost generation”, and the numbers are hard to argue with. Six in ten of these young people have never held a job. The estimated cost to the economy runs to £27bn a year.

The second is remarkable. According to Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) data, 13.7% of 18–24 year olds were engaged in early-stage entrepreneurial activity in 2024 — the highest rate ever recorded for this age group.

Same generation; same economy – two seemingly contradictory signals.
The numbers are stark:

• 1,012,000 young people now classed as NEET
• 13.7% of 18–24 year olds engaged in early-stage entrepreneurship – a record high
• 84% of those classified as NEET say they want to work

Taken together, these figures challenge a narrative that is often repeated but rarely evidenced: that young people lack ambition. The data suggests otherwise. What we appear to be seeing is not an absence of aspiration, but a mismatch between aspiration and opportunity.

Over the last 25 years, GEM has tracked entrepreneurial activity through economic cycles, labour market shifts and technological change. One consistent finding is that entrepreneurial activity can rise for very different reasons. Sometimes people are drawn towards opportunity. Sometimes they are pushed there by necessity. When labour markets weaken, more individuals attempt to create their own opportunities.

That can be a positive story. But it can also be a signal that traditional routes into employment are becoming harder to access. The challenge, therefore, is not simply getting more young people interested in entrepreneurship. They already are. The challenge is ensuring that those taking the entrepreneurial route have access to the finance, networks, business support and entrepreneurial education needed to survive and grow.

We have never struggled to generate enthusiasm at the point of entry. What we have struggled with is building the infrastructure that enables potential to translate into sustainable outcomes.

Viewed through that lens, these two statistics are not contradictory at all.
They describe a generation that remains ambitious, resourceful and willing to act. The question is whether our institutions, policies and support systems are keeping pace with that ambition. Because if they do, what currently looks like a worrying labour market statistic could become one of the most important economic opportunities of the next decade.
Not a lost generation!

If you are a small business, self employed or freelance -register to get free 24/7 help for your business – @business111com