Data hub group selection analysis: Youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET)
1 Group definition
NEET youth are those young people aged 15 or 16 to 29 who are neither working, in school, or in a training program.
2 Selection criteria data and analysis
2.1 Labour market representation
In a recent online survey, LMIC found that NEET youth face significant barriers to entering the workforce. Among the 300 NEET youths surveyed, 27% of the respondents needed more work experience and 22% were suffering from a mental health illness.
They also did not seem to have adequate labour market information, evident from the fact that 42% of the respondents did not know which job was right for them and 34% were unaware of how much certain jobs paid. In light of this, better labour market information will go a long way in addressing the factors preventing effective integration of this group.
2.1.1 NEET youth face numerous challenges
2.1.2 Many NEET youth do not know what career they want to pursue
2.2 COVID-19 impact
One way to measure the impact of COVID-19 is to examine the average monthly employment loss from February through June. As we can see from the table, almost all groups, including youth, experienced job loss in this period. NEET youth, therefore, were also hit due to the pandemic.
A Statistics Canada report states that NEET rates for young Canadians “increased to unprecedented levels” in March and April. This happened primarily because youth aged 15 to 19 reported that they were not attending school due to school closures and youth aged 20 to 24 and 25 to 29 lost their jobs. According to the report, “youth aged 25 to 29 with a trades diploma showed the largest increase in NEET rates,” possibly because of their limited ability to work from home. The report further states that young women with children, immigrant youth and off-reserve Indigenous youth, groups typically at higher risk for being NEET, “did not experience greater increases in their NEET rates than the overall population” in the early months of the pandemic.
| demographic | Average month-over-month growth (%) |
|---|---|
| 15 to 24 years | -1 |
| Females | -2 |
| Total population | -3 |
| Immigrants, landed 5 or less years earlier | -5 |
As is clear from the plot below, among all the groups, youth aged 15 to 24 experienced the highest volatility in monthly employment from February through July–a fact that the table on average monthly employment does not capture. Monthly employment for females was the second-most volatile of all groups, followed by immigrants, landed five or less years earlier, whereas according to the table, this group experienced the highest average monthly employment loss. Monthly employment for the total population was the least volatile of all groups.
2.3 Accessibility and Impact of LMI
Another factor to consider is the group’s relationship to LMI. Specifically, we want to know their experiences locating and interpreting LMI. For example, among the NEET youth surveyed, 54% reported difficulty finding this information, as opposed to 49% of the general population of Canadians surveyed. And 42% of the NEET youth surveyed said the information available is difficult to understand, in comparison to 37% of the general population surveyed.
It is also important to consider the impact LMI has made on the previous job-related decisions of NEET youth. Among the NEET youth surveyed, 91% said this information had an impact on their decision making, as opposed to 83% of the general population surveyed.
2.4 Dedicated career practitioners
There are no dedicated career services targeting this group.
2.5 LMIC’s pre-existing knowledge base
LMIC has published a few articles, analyzing and commenting on the labour market outcomes of NEET youth. You can find the links here: