A million young people out of work: What two government reports tell the tech sector
The UK now has more than a million young people not in education, employment or training, the first time the figure has passed one million since 2013. Two government reports published within days of each other tell a story the tech sector should be paying attention to.
Two reports, two different futures
The Young People and Work interim report and Skills England's annual skills report both came out recently, from the same government, and they pull in noticeably different directions.
Skills England is focused on economic growth and the "missing middle": the shortage of people qualified at Levels 4 and 5, with 62% of new demand in priority growth sectors expected to need that level or higher. Young People and Work, by contrast, describes a generation locked out of the labour market entirely, and argues that the bottom rung of the ladder has been kicked away. It even suggests the Apprenticeship Levy has been widely used by employers to fund higher-level training for existing, often older staff, hollowing out the entry-level routes young people actually need.
The second tension is around qualifications. Skills England leans on new formal routes such as T Levels and Higher Technical Qualifications. But Young People and Work contains a quietly devastating finding: qualifications are becoming less protective against ending up NEET. Fifteen per cent of these young people have a degree, 21% have a Level 3 qualification and nearly 30% have good GCSEs. Many did the "right" things and still cannot find work.
The third is supply versus demand. Skills England largely frames youth unemployment as a supply problem: employers have vacancies, so train people to fill them. Young People and Work pushes back, arguing that years of skills programmes, CV support and job-search help have not addressed a demand side that has fundamentally changed. Recruitment has become so automated, remote and high-volume that even well-prepared young people are screened out before a human ever sees them.
Where the reports agree is telling. Both conclude that technical skills alone are no longer enough. What employers actually want is the human element: communication, adaptability, resilience, knowing the right questions to ask. And young people are struggling to evidence it.
Why this shapes our work
Breakthrough is a nationwide, independently assured specialist in AI, digital and employability skills for underserved communities, including young people who are NEET and, as the UK's first AI skills training provider for underserved groups recruiting directly from prisons, people leaving the justice system. Our starting point is that people are not behind; systems are. The findings above are not abstract to us. They describe the associates we work with every day: capable young people, often with qualifications, who cannot get seen.
That is why our programmes are built around the gap both reports identify. Our core course is eight weeks of AI literacy and digital skills, co-designed with IBM and CGI with ethics embedded throughout, delivered online by facilitators with lived experience. But the technical content is wrapped in the human side: confidence building, CV and interview preparation, mock assessment centres, direct employer connections and one-to-one mentoring for six months after completion. We have supported 700+ associates, and 95%+ remain engaged with us after graduation.
The employer connection matters because it puts a human back into a recruitment process that has designed them out. In November 2025, IBM commissioned a structured day of mock interviews, group assessments and career pathway sessions at its Hampshire office. Two associates went on to secure roles at IBM, 100% of participants reported improved confidence for job interviews, and 88% said they now have concrete steps towards their first role in tech. For many, it was the first time an employer had sat across a table from them.
Corporate partners make this possible in different ways: funding cohorts through social value commitments on live contracts, as BT is doing across two prisons and a community programme, or commissioning employability and assessment days like IBM's. Each route turns a social value line item into a young person being seen again.
Finding a way in
Young people have not opted out of work. The world of work changed faster than the doors into it. The two reports disagree on much, but between them they make one thing clear: fixing this is not only about qualifications or training places, but about employers meeting young people partway. For the tech sector, with its persistent skills shortages, that is less an act of charity than an untapped pipeline. The least any of us can do is help them find a way in.
Breakthrough Social Enterprise is a nationwide provider of AI, digital and employability skills for underserved communities. Breaking Barriers, Building Futures. Find out more at wearebreakthrough.co.uk.
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