New NEETs figures – our response

We reviewed the recent trends of the figures released by the Office for National Statistics that showed decline of NEETs, yet the current number currently stands at 981,000.

Allen Simpson, Chief Executive of UKHospitality, said: “The rise in the number of NEETs year-on-year reinforces the urgent need to stimulate the job market for young people.

“The quickest and easiest way to do that is to reduce the cost of employment, which will drive job creation and opportunities for young people.

Hospitality is one of the only sectors that has the ability to create those jobs in every postcode, but the damage of Government policy in the past two years has resulted in hospitality shedding 100,000 jobs.

“Almost £5 billion in additional costs over the past year and a skills levy that bars hospitality from using funds from training its staff are all barriers that need to be solved.

“I’m encouraged by the actions of the new Government to back hospitality and I hope that it will continue to put right those wrongs, in particular through reducing the cost of employment.

“Despite year-on-year growth, the drop in NEETs in the last quarter suggests this could be the start of a downward trend and I look forward to working with the Government to make this a sustained and permanent reduction.”