NEET
NEET is an acronym for not in employment, education, or training. It is a statistical category for young people who are neither working nor studying, used by governments and international organizations to measure youth disengagement from work and education.[1]
Origin
The term entered formal policy use in the United Kingdom in 1999, with the Social Exclusion Unit's report Bridging the Gap: New Opportunities for 16–18 Year Olds Not in Education, Employment or Training. The report addressed a gap in official statistics: changes to social security rules in 1988 had removed 16- and 17-year-olds from official unemployment figures.[2] The concept was later adopted by the European Union, the OECD, and governments elsewhere, including Japan.[2]
Measurement
The OECD measures the share of young people who are neither employed nor in formal education or training. The category includes both unemployed people, who are looking for work, and people outside the labor force, such as those caring for family members, discouraged workers, or those with illness or disability.[1] Because people classified as NEET have a range of circumstances, researchers often break the category into subgroups.[2]
Internet culture
In online culture, especially on imageboards, "NEET" is also used as a self-identifier for people who live outside work and school, sometimes ironically or with pride. It overlaps with, but is distinct from, hikikomori, which describes prolonged social withdrawal rather than absence from work or study.
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET)". OECD. Retrieved October 13, 2026.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Origins and future of the concept of NEETs in the European policy agenda". Oxford Academic. Retrieved October 16, 2026.