The index estimates the potential gain from boosting youth employment, education and training to be around £40 billion in the UK and over $1 trillion across the OECD. This can be achieved by lowering the NEET (not in education, employment or training) rate to German levels. Potential gains could be as high as 8% of GDP for Turkey and Italy, where there are currently high levels of youth unemployment. The UK could see an annual improvement of around 1.9% of GDP in the long run.

Across the OECD, a young person aged 15-24 is, on average, 2.5 times more likely to be unemployed, compared with someone aged 25-54. This year, we take a closer look at the drivers of youth unemployment.. We find that faster economic growth, a higher level of employment of older workers and financial incentives are associated with lower youth unemployment.

In the UK, there are three government policies currently exerting a strong influence on the opportunities available to young people, relating to apprenticeships, upper-secondary education and social mobility. However, despite these positive steps, there is still more to be done to make education and training more accessible for young people across the UK. This report aims to highlight the challenges facing young people today and to stimulate conversations on how governments, businesses and society can work together to address these issues.