Marvin OnumonuThe Northern Ireland Statistics & Research Agency (NISRA) published new figures on young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) in the region, which showed a drop in the NEET rate.
Between October and December 2025, there were an estimated 20,000 people aged 16 to 24 years in Northern Ireland classified as NEET.
This accounted for 9.7% of all those aged 16 to 24, down from 11.7% in the previous quarter.
The NEET rate for males was 10.4%, while for females it was 9.0%.
The number of young people who were NEET dropped by 3,000 from the previous quarter and by 2,000 over the year.
In the same period, around 14,000 young people were not in education, employment or training and were not looking for work or not available to start work, classed as economically inactive.
The rest were looking for work in the past four weeks and available to start within two weeks, recorded as unemployed.
