Introducing the youth not in employment, education, or training indicator

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the youth not in employment, education, or training (NEET) indicator, its introduction as an official measure by Statistics New Zealand, how it is defined and calculated, and why it is useful.

Increasing attention has been paid in the national and international arena to the topic of youth labour-market issues in recent years. This heightened during the global financial and economic crisis.

Statistics NZ's overall aim of publishing official statistics on NEET is to provide equal access to consistent and internationally comparable figures over time. These statistics will serve as a reference point for public debate and evidence-based analysis.

Based on the overall aim and analysis, Statistics NZ defines youth NEET as people aged 15–24 years who are not in employment, education, or training. NEET includes both those people who are unemployed (part of the labour force); and those who are not in the labour force, and at the same time, not in education or training.

On 15 December 2011, Statistics NZ will release the first official statistics on youth NEET.

This information paper covers:

the rationale for NEET statistics
some commonly used youth labour-market indicators
NEET’s definition and use
the introduction of the official measure of youth NEET in New Zealand using Household Labour Force Survey (HLFS) data
how HLFS data is used to construct NEET statistics.

Available files
Introducing the youth not in employment, education, or training indicator (PDF, 17 pages, 253kb)

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Citation

Statistics New Zealand (2011). Introducing the youth not in employment, education, or training indicator. Wellington: Statistics New Zealand
ISBN 978-0-478-37747-7 (online)