This is an extract from an essay published on Matt Goodwin’s Substack on 2nd September.
A country that abandons its own young people is abandoning its own future. But that is precisely what Britain is doing, as shocking new figures reveal.
Nearly half of all young people who are not working, in education, or training now say they have a disability - which is more than twice what it was 12 years ago.
Close to 45% of these young people who are out of work and education say they have a “work limiting health condition” - up from 26% a decade ago.
And the share of disabled young people who say they are out of work and education because of ‘mental health’ has likewise nearly doubled - to 43%.
And as if that’s not bad enough, then comes the second half of the story.
While politicians are pushing countless young British people into welfare, they are simultaneously undercutting them from another direction - by importing enormous numbers of young workers from overseas who are prepared to work.
Recent analysis of HMRC payroll data by the Centre for Social Justice finds that, since 2020, the number of non-EU workers aged under 25 on British payrolls increased by 290,000. The equivalent increase among young British people? Just 10,800.
In other words, roughly 27 additional young non-EU workers have been added to payroll jobs for every one young British worker, and at exactly the same time as another 200,000 young British people were added to the rapidly growing pile of those “not in employment, education, or training”.
This is a complete disgrace.
What kind of country, you might ask, allows the number of young people from outside Europe who are on UK payroll jobs - jobs that were historically undertaken by young British people starting out in the hospitality and retail sector - to rocket by 355%, while its own young British workforce grows by just 0.3%?
This is not how a serious country would operate. A serious country would be doing the very opposite of these things. It would be dramatically slashing welfare. It would be rapidly rebuilding apprenticeships and investing heavily in vocational education.
We cannot go on like this. With a political class that has not only lost control of the welfare state and immigration but which is now also abandoning its own young people along the way. That is simply unforgivable.
Subscribe to Matt Goodwin’s Substack here.
A country that abandons its own young people is abandoning its own future. But that is precisely what Britain is doing, as shocking new figures reveal.
Nearly half of all young people who are not working, in education, or training now say they have a disability - which is more than twice what it was 12 years ago.
Close to 45% of these young people who are out of work and education say they have a “work limiting health condition” - up from 26% a decade ago.
And the share of disabled young people who say they are out of work and education because of ‘mental health’ has likewise nearly doubled - to 43%.
And as if that’s not bad enough, then comes the second half of the story.
While politicians are pushing countless young British people into welfare, they are simultaneously undercutting them from another direction - by importing enormous numbers of young workers from overseas who are prepared to work.
Recent analysis of HMRC payroll data by the Centre for Social Justice finds that, since 2020, the number of non-EU workers aged under 25 on British payrolls increased by 290,000. The equivalent increase among young British people? Just 10,800.
In other words, roughly 27 additional young non-EU workers have been added to payroll jobs for every one young British worker, and at exactly the same time as another 200,000 young British people were added to the rapidly growing pile of those “not in employment, education, or training”.
This is a complete disgrace.
What kind of country, you might ask, allows the number of young people from outside Europe who are on UK payroll jobs - jobs that were historically undertaken by young British people starting out in the hospitality and retail sector - to rocket by 355%, while its own young British workforce grows by just 0.3%?
This is not how a serious country would operate. A serious country would be doing the very opposite of these things. It would be dramatically slashing welfare. It would be rapidly rebuilding apprenticeships and investing heavily in vocational education.
We cannot go on like this. With a political class that has not only lost control of the welfare state and immigration but which is now also abandoning its own young people along the way. That is simply unforgivable.
Subscribe to Matt Goodwin’s Substack here.
