Youth unemployment is the highest it has been in over a decade and employers are now part of the conversation about why.
The Milburn Review’s interim report, published in May 2026 and updated in July, is blunt. It estimates that nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds are not in education, employment or training and ONS figures show the total passed a million in early 2026, the first time since 2013. The review puts the annual cost to the country at around £125 billion, more than the UK spends on education, and warns of a “lost generation”. It also rejects the lazy caricature: 84% of the NEET young people it surveyed said they want to find a job, education or training.
Alan Milburn was clear that this is not any single institution’s fault. But he was equally clear that employers have a part to play and asked them to look hard at their job descriptions and their willingness to hire people at the start of their working lives. The final report is expected later this year. The organisations in the best position when it lands will be the ones who have used the time to get their own house in order.
Here is what that actually involves.
No, not on its own. An applicant tracking system does what an employer sets it up to do - it's not its own being, it is only as good as the people who manage it. When a young candidate is screened out, that reflects the criteria a hiring team has chosen, not a machine deciding by itself. Technology is only ever as fair as the rules and the people behind it.
The review does have recruitment in its sights. It describes hiring that has become more remote, more automated and less human, where a young person is screened by a portal, a test or an algorithm before anyone has even looked them in the eye. That's a fair challenge, but the answer is not to rip the technology out. It's to build it around fair criteria and keep people at the heart of making the decisions.
The volume is real. In a tight market, some roles attract hundreds of applications and a high rejection rate is partly down to supply and demand. But volume is not an excuse for a process that's confusing to complete, screens candidates on the wrong things or leaves people in silence.
You don't need to wait for the final report to be published. Four areas are within your control today.
Make applications accessible. Long, text-heavy forms are only ever going to filter for confidence and those with free time, not capability for the job. Keep applications mobile-friendly and easy to complete in under 20 minutes. For high-volume public-sector hiring in the NHS, care and local government, a shorter structured form usually tells you a lot more than a wall of free text answers ever will.
Check what you screen on. Screening criteria have a habit of being inherited from a job description written years ago. Ask yourself whether each requirement genuinely predicts success in the role or whether it's actually filtering out capable young people who haven't yet had the chance to prove themselves. A degree requirement in a role that never needed one is the classic example.
Open up entry routes. Milburn’s sharpest finding was that the first rung of the ladder has narrowed. Over the past 20 years the number of mid and lower-skilled jobs has fallen by around 1.6 million, even as higher-skilled work has grown, and apprenticeships for young people have dropped by over 40%. Young people are squeezed at both ends: too inexperienced for the entry roles that remain, not yet qualified for the ones that are growing. Designing roles around transferable skills, not just prior experience, is how you break that.
Tell people where they stand. Silence is the complaint young jobseekers raise most. The review found they cared more about the silence than the rejection, because at least a clear "no" gave them something to work with. A timely, honest outcome costs little yet does a great deal for how your organisation is seen. This is exactly the kind of thing a well-configured recruitment system handles at scale, so no candidate is left wondering.
Some employers are already doing this well. Nell’s Pizza, an independent business in Manchester with a branch in Altrincham, has opened an intro-to-work scheme for young people aged 14 to 18, with or without any prior experience. It builds in training on the basics of hospitality, customer service and health and safety, tracks the effect on young people’s wellbeing and has even offered to place applicants it can't take on with other local businesses. It's a deliberate attempt to create a first rung where one didn't exist before.
It's a fair instinct and you can understand why it lands with young people who've sent off dozens of applications and heard nothing back. But it's worth being honest about what the real problem is - it was never the software. The question is not whether a person or a system reads the application. The question is whether the criteria are fair, the process is accessible and everyone hears back. Used responsibly, technology is how you deliver that fair, human outcome for hundreds of applicants, not just the few that one person can read by hand. At Jobtrain we've always taken the view that AI and automation are tools that should be explainable and auditable, with people making the decisions - that's the opposite of black box AI.
The Milburn final report lands later this year, it will almost certainly ask more of employers, not less.
Gary Towers, Talent Intelligence Director at Jobtrain, puts it this way:
The review’s challenge to employers is the right one. Recruitment technology used well is part of the answer, not the problem. The organisations best placed when the full report lands will be those who use the time now to audit and improve their processes, not those who wait.
The good news is that none of this requires you to wait for policy. Fairer applications, honest screening criteria, real entry routes and a process that keeps people informed are all within reach now. They make your hiring better, whatever the report recommends.
What did the Milburn Review say about employers?
The Milburn Review’s interim report asked employers to review their job descriptions, remove unnecessary barriers and consider young people for entry-level roles. It framed employer hiring practices as one contributing factor among several, alongside health, education and welfare, and noted that recruitment had become more remote, more automated and less human.
How can employers reduce barriers for young jobseekers?
Keep applications short and mobile-friendly, screen only on criteria that genuinely predict success in the role, create entry routes based on transferable skills rather than prior experience, and give every applicant a timely outcome.
Is an applicant tracking system bad for young candidates?
Not in itself. An applicant tracking system applies the rules that an employer configures. Used responsibly, with explainable criteria and people making the decisions, it can make hiring fairer and more consistent for young candidates, not less.
What is the UK NEET rate in 2026?
The Milburn Review estimates that nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds are NEET. ONS figures show the number passed one million in early 2026, about 13.5% of that age group and the highest level since 2013.
You cannot fix the labour market on your own. But you can make sure your hiring is not part of the problem. Jobtrain’s candidate experience audit shows you exactly where young and first-time applicants drop out of your process, and what to fix first.