UK / OECD warns over NEETs (Not in Education Nor in Employment)

Britain’s high drop-out rates from education and employment represent the country’s “biggest challenge,” the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development warned.

But raising the school and college leaving age, a process beginning next year, will not solve the problem as simply “locking people up” in class will not give them the skills they need, the institute said.

The findings came in the OECD’s 435-page Education at a Glance report, which compared the performances of education systems in 42 countries, over the period since the financial crash of 2008 for the first time.

The research found that across developed countries, the gap in job prospects between those with good qualifications and candidates who left school early widened since the crisis between 2008 to 2011.

In the UK, almost a quarter of British people under the age of 30 who do not have secondary school qualifications such as five good GCSEs are neither employed, nor in education, or training, and known as “Neet”.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor

via OECD warns UK over high unemployment rates for under 30s – Telegraph.