Youth Not in Employment, Education or Training

NEET status identifies young people who are simultaneously not employed and not participating in education or training during the reference period. It is a broad measure of potential youth disengagement from both skill formation and paid economic activity, rather than a synonym for unemployment.

Position in labour-market classification

The NEET rate is the share of the specified youth population that is neither employed nor enrolled in education or training. For SDG indicator 8.6.1, youth refers to persons aged 15-24 years.

• A young person who is studying or receiving training is not classified as NEET even if that person is not employed.
• A young person who is employed is not NEET even if that person is outside education and training.

How NEET differs from unemployment

NEET youth include both the unemployed and persons outside the labour force who are not studying or training. Unemployment, by contrast, generally requires a person to be without work, available for work and seeking work under the applicable statistical criteria.

• An unemployed jobseeker who is not studying or training is classified as NEET.
• An inactive non-student, such as a discouraged worker or a person occupied with unpaid care, may also be classified as NEET.
• Therefore, the NEET rate can reveal exclusion that the unemployment rate alone does not capture.

Interpretation and limitations

A high NEET rate can indicate difficult school-to-work transitions, weak employment opportunities or barriers to participation. However, NEET youth are heterogeneous, and the indicator alone does not establish why an individual is outside employment, education and training.

• Disaggregation by sex, age and other characteristics helps identify unequal constraints and policy needs.
• NEET status does not by itself measure job quality, earnings, informality or the duration of disengagement.