About 1 million young people in the UK were not in education, employment or training, otherwise known as Neets,<\/a> in the first quarter of this year, according to the Office for National Statistics.<\/p>\n Adzuna said sectors including healthcare, nursing, hospitality and logistics posted fewer vacancies, adding that the figures suggested that a recovery reported during the spring had gone into reverse.<\/p>\n Andrew Hunter, a co-founder of Adzuna, said: \u201cJuly\u2019s numbers are a step backwards, not a blip. The annual vacancy decline got worse for the first time since January, and (the number of) jobseekers per vacancy are now higher than they were a year ago.<\/p>\n \u201cThe graduate job market also keeps setting new lows, which tells us employers still haven\u2019t found a reason to open up hiring at that level.\u201d<\/p>\n The figures point to a sharp worsening in the graduate market compared with a decade ago. In 2017, there were more than 55,000 graduate positions.<\/p>\n More recently, employers have also reined in their hiring in the face of increases in national insurance contributions and the minimum wage<\/a> announced by the former chancellor Rachel Reeves in her last two budgets.<\/p>\n The extra labour cost for businesses also comes as some companies are prioritising investment in automation and artificial intelligence<\/a> tools rather than hiring.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | Every weekday<\/p>\n Sign up to Business Today<\/p>\n Get set for the working day \u2013 we’ll point you to all the business news and analysis you need every morning<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n The trend has left some young people increasingly demoralised<\/a>. One report, from the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), said this summer that 16- to 21-year-olds were less confident about being successful than a decade ago and that some were \u201closing faith in their futures\u201d.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/1782306728_295_500.jpg\")
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