Alan Milburn

We are at risk of a lost generation.

than an economic crisis.

It's a moral one.

This is a Global Player original podcast.

So that's basically right.

So the old problem, and there's still a problem of cyclical youth unemployment, by the way, the numbers are far too high.

But the really worrying thing about this neat number is not just the number, it's the makeup of it.

So six in 10 of these young people have never had a job.

of that 1 million.

If you go back 20 years, it was 4 in 10.

The problem then was more unemployment.

Now it's inactivity.

In other words, they're not even looking for a job.

And that's driven by a whole variety of things, which is why we tried to do a proper diagnosis of what on earth is going on here.

And partially, it's about some changes in the labour market, fewer entry-level jobs.

Partially, it's about who the neat cohort is.

The biggest worrying thing, probably the biggest change factor, has been about

I guess there's been an increase in about 70% over the last decade of young people who are reporting a work-limiting health condition, and that's mainly mental health.

And the consequences are that the sort of stickiness that you're seeing of young people not just becoming neat but staying neat is growing, and this then is a massive challenge.

And look, the real problem is that the system that we have, whether it's education through to welfare,