- Number of non-EU under 25s on UK payrolls increased by 290,000 since January 2020 – up 355 per cent – compared to just 11,000 extra young UK nationals
- Young people not in work or training up almost 200,000 over the same period
- Ministers told they “must not duck the role of immigration” in driving up youth unemployment as Alan Milburn publishes landmark report
The crisis in youth worklessness is being “fuelled” by mass immigration, says a new analysis.
The number of non-EU workers aged under 25 on UK payrolls rose by 355 per cent since January 2020, while the young British workforce grew by just 0.3 per cent, according to think tank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ).
CSJ analysis of new HMRC payroll data shows that the number of non-EU migrants on payrolls aged under 25 rose from 82,000 in January 2020 to 370,000 in December 2025 – an increase of 290,000.
Over the same period, the number of UK-national under-25s on payrolls increased by just 11,000, while the number of under 25s not in employment, education or training (NEET) surged by almost 200,000.
This means that, since January 2020, there have been 27 young non-EU migrant workers hired for every additional young British employee.
The findings come as Alan Milburn sets out his interim conclusions on Britain’s youth worklessness crisis, with almost one million 16 to 24-year-olds now not in education, employment or training.
The latest figures show that the divergence in the employment of young non-EU and UK-national workers is getting worse.
Between December 2024 and December 2025, the number of non-EU under-25s on payrolls increased by 33,200, while the number of UK-national under-25s fell by 32,200.
The surge in non-EU employment is concentrated in the entry-level sectors that have historically been the first rung on the ladder for young British workers.
In the retail and hospitality sectors, non-EU workers of all ages rose by almost half a million (473,000) – nearly doubling – between January 2020 and December 2025, while UK nationals employed in the same sectors fell by over a quarter of a million (252,000).
The CSJ’s Wasted Youth report calls on ministers to overhaul the youth labour market by easing the burden on employers hiring young Brits through the Future Workforce Credit, an effective tax cut worth 30 per cent of a NEET’s salary.
The think tank is calling for health-related benefits for young people with less severe mental health conditions to be tightened, with savings invested in NHS talking therapies, employment support, and expanded vocational routes into work.
The think tank is also calling for the reinstatement of the Resident Labour Market Test, which required employers to advertise vacancies to the domestic workforce before offering roles through work visa schemes. The test was abolished under the new points-based immigration system in 2020.
Joe Shalam, Policy Director at the Centre for Social Justice, said:
Alan Milburn has powerfully exposed the scandal of nearly one million young people being left without work or training. Poor mental health, access to benefits, and weak employment support are all part of the problem.
But the labour market these young people are trying to enter matters too. We cannot ignore the role almost half a million more non-EU migrants being employed in sectors like retail and hospitality since 2020 has played in fuelling the NEETs crisis.
Starter roles are simply vanishing across the jobs market, made worse of course by rising costs for employers. Protecting Britain from under-cut labour is an essential first step to improving the pay, conditions and training opportunities for British young people.
Sir Iain Duncan Smith MP said:
Young people in this country have endless potential and yet the choices made by governments of all stripes have locked so much of it away.
Alan Milburn is right to highlight this. But the simple fact is that the political gravity is pulling this government further and further away from the tough, yet common sense policies that would begin to turn this crisis around.
Ending the sickness benefit free for all, where young people are written off claiming depression or anxiety. Clamping down on mass immigration. Scrapping the university Ponzi scheme with an apprenticeship revolution. It’s time to be bold. Or we risk losing an entire generation.
Notes to editors
Methodology: The CSJ’s analysis is based on HMRC, UK payrolled employments by nationality, region, industry, age and sex, from July 2014 to December 2025, combining the under-18 and 18-to-24 age bands to calculate an under-25 total. The HMRC dataset does not separately identify 16 and 17-year-olds; the under-18 age band is used as a proxy and combined with the 18-to-24 band to produce an under-25 total.
- Between January 2020 and December 2025, non-EU under-25 payrolled employment increased from 81,500 to 370,900, a rise of 289,400 or 355 per cent. UK-national under-25 payrolled employments increased from 3,841,500 to 3,852,300, a rise of 10,800.
- Between December 2024 and December 2025, non-EU under-25 payrolled employment increased from 337,700 to 370,900, a rise of 33,200, and UK-national under-25 payrolled employment fell from 3,884,500 to 3,852,300, a fall of 32,200.
- The CSJ’s report Wasted Youth, published in August 2025, first identified the trend using HMRC data available to December 2024.
- NEET figures refer to ONS, Young people not in education, employment or training, UK: October to December 2025.