About a fifth of people between ages 15 and 24 worldwide in 2023 are currently NEETs, which stands for “not in employment, education, or training.” About 20% of people who are between the ages of 15 and 24 are refusing to work, obtain certifications, or an education.
What’s going to happen as the older generations age out of the workforce? The collapse is closer than it appears.
18 Comments
SiG · July 7, 2025 at 8:00 am
I wonder how many of those NEETs are buying the line that AI is going to replace everyone and no jobs are going to be left? I can’t go a day without hearing something like that. Why bother going to school if an AI robot is going to take your job?
Divemedic · July 7, 2025 at 8:54 am
I hear that myself. Watching computers try to interpret heart rhythms tells me that this isn’t happening in my lifetime
Grumpy51 · July 7, 2025 at 1:25 pm
How many times has the EKG computer shouted “STEMI” and it’s not……. or, worse, missed the subtlties of a developing STEMI???
First thing I tell nurses, re EKGs, DO NOT LOOK AT THE INTERPRETATION – read it yourself…..
oldvet50 · July 7, 2025 at 10:11 am
AI will never replace the world’s oldest profession – so there’s that.
it's just Boris · July 7, 2025 at 2:53 pm
Another decade or so of robotics development, and it just might.
Or … were you referring to politicians? 😉
Exile1981 · July 7, 2025 at 12:28 pm
I have one who isn’t really a NEET but having a hard time a job. She has applied to dozens of companies, has her education and just needs her hours to get her license..
Everyone she talks too is hiring but tells her if they hire her they have to pay the full wage but if they hire a recent arrival the gov’t pays half the wage so its cheaper .
She’s doing odd jobs to bring in money but getting pissed off about being shut out of her career.
beans · July 7, 2025 at 2:06 pm
As Exile 1981 points out, the lack of jobs, especially entry-level jobs, is partially to blame. So is the universal push by educators for everyone to have college degrees. Add to that all the bullscat that the media is pushing about race, sex, the weather, the economy, past history and such.
All of it has created a malaise amongst youngish people. You see the same thing amongst those over 50yoa who have been unhired for being old. A lack of giveadam after being turned away from even easy jobs.
Jonathan · July 7, 2025 at 2:36 pm
I’d be curious to see a breakdown of their global numbers.
What little they include shows high numbers in Europe and lower ones elsewhere.
I personally know young people who work hard and others who hardly work; it stands to reason that some areas have this more and some less.
In much of Europe, the benefits they reference are in effect a UBS, so living on them is far more feasible than it is in the US and other countries at this point.
@HomeInSC · July 7, 2025 at 4:27 pm
Necessity may be the mother of labor. If Homan accelerates deportations and work requirements are added to handouts we could see better opportunities for US citizens and our less motivated fellow citizens might actually learn how to work.
A key item in this playbook would be cutting foreign student visas and H1-B visas by 95%. After a career in high-tech my conclusions about H1-B engineers is that they are far more numerous than they are exceptional. I’d rather lift fellow Americans than imports.
A side note on AI. There will be times when AI produces stunning results because it can integrate huge amounts of information. Then there will be cases where the use of AI causes the most egregious abuses of citizens. It will exceed the outrageous treatment of people we saw as the result of the Jan 6 “””insurrection”””
Steve · July 7, 2025 at 7:52 pm
@HomeInSC – Immigration attorneys from Cohen & Grigsby explain how they assist employers in running classified ads with the goal of NOT finding any qualified applicants, and the steps they go through to disqualify even the most qualified Americans in order to secure green cards for H-1B workers.
Link
It has only gotten worse since this video was captured, and thanks Exile1981 – I was unaware that the Gov’t was subsidizing 1/2 the wages of a H1B. A US worker cannot complete on that basis.
@HomeInSC · July 8, 2025 at 6:03 am
Corporate HR departments at large corporations filter out resumées. What I saw had far too high a proportion of furriners. Had to periodically tell them to not filter since they didn’t understand our specialized engineering work well enough to screen applicants. It helped. This was at Si Valley Woke Fruit Co Inc.
The other effect is tribal. Once you get a furrin director or VP the department seems to take on their hue… whether it was spot not feather, ((())), or Incheks.
The money was great but I got sick of the place… and the state.
Exile1981 · July 8, 2025 at 9:10 am
@Steve,
I should have been clearer, I’m in Canada. Refugees who have ‘previous experience ‘ but no proof of experience can get certification through special programs and gets subsidized wages through federal immigration program.
I know of two cases were truck drivers in this program caused fatal crashes in the first month driving.
The daughter is an industrial radiography tech. The idea of a recent unvetted refugee being given access to iridium does not fill me with confidence in our government.
Exile1981
Danny · July 7, 2025 at 4:36 pm
I guess that’s why the leaders of early settlements like Jamestown said “you don’t work, you don’t eat.” or something like that.
The only people that need to worry about being hired are White people. I capitalized that because of the word black being capitalized everywhere but not the word white.
AI takes over? Doesn’t matter because we’ll have an incompetent body filling space and being paid because they check all the boxes. Folks — we need to be done with tolerance.
Honk Honk · July 7, 2025 at 7:34 pm
Get to work, someone has to pay for all the free stuff.
Collapse? Windmill and solar will power the free rainbow stew bubble up AI Wakanda.
Dan · July 7, 2025 at 8:17 pm
The trip from the dark ages up to a modern high tech well fed society was long and arduous. The regression back to the next dark ages will be breathtakingly swift. Once we pass the tipping point where we cannot maintain our current technology the drop back to darkness, starvation and ignorance will happen in a matter of 2-3 generations, at most.
Stealth Spaniel · July 8, 2025 at 12:16 am
The job market is the pits-for everybody. How often have you been….too short, too tall, need more/less education, not DEI enough, too old, too young, too experienced, not experienced enough….the shit show goes on ad nauseam. I had a friend fired from a company that she had helped build from the ground up; after 17 years, they told her she made too much money. So, at 62, she is scrambling with the rest of us. I see a lot of people 30+ that have not even had their first career. Try explaining that at 40+! I have been through many careers-starting at 15 for AT&T. I have come to the conclusion that the only way to protect yourself is run your own business; whatever it is, no matter how hard it is, you are still better off than scrambling for pennies. The college BS is beyond stupid. I have a neighbor who is 90, she was an executive secretary when it meant something. She is still elegant in her dress, commanding in her language, and this woman can write a letter like nobody’s business. I have yet to see the diploma mill administration assistant hold a candle to her. Half the time, these paper certified fools can’t speak English. We need our own, closed, society.
Unknownsailor · July 8, 2025 at 3:10 am
I am in the over 50 who can’t get hired for nothing co-hort, Graduated university with a CS degree in 2020, and after trying for a bit to use it, realized no one is going to hire a over 50 entry level software developer. Bee applying off an on since then, even to jobs that fit my 20 years of experience as a Logistics Specialist in the Navy, and I don’t even get an email back.
I’ve decided to start my own business selling stuff I make myself, both custom wood working stuff and 3d printed stuff. I don’t need much, since I already have my Navy retirement, basically food/play money is all it is for.
Anonymous · July 8, 2025 at 9:47 am
Atlas Shrugged comes to mind
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