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What once seemed like a rare event is becoming all too common: A young adult in their 20s at home, on their computer, and not in education, employment or training. Referred to as NEETs, these young people now represent as many as one in five youth worldwide, and as much as 12 percent of all young adults in countries like the United States and Canada, where economic opportunities should, in theory, be more plentiful.
The toll of being NEET on young people’s mental health can be devastating. Higher rates of depression, loneliness, anxiety and a persistent pattern of languishing are typical of youth who have no reason to get out of bed in the morning and few prospects of tomorrow being much better.
Some young people appear to be more at risk than others: One Dutch study found that early experiences of mental health challenges predicted chronic disengagement from school and work as young people enter their 20s. In other words, a rough start in life may increase a young person’s risk for becoming NEET—and, in a tight and unpredictable job market, their situation may only get worse.
Anecdotally, I know of three families dealing with exactly this problem, and in all three cases, the parents have been unable to do anything to help except provide their adult children with access to a computer, food, laundry service, a bedroom and in a few instances, the expectation that they contribute to their family’s daily chores. In every case, the argument for the status quo is the same: There are simply no jobs out there and no way to change the situation.
This is (partially) true. As AI makes many entry-level jobs obsolete and inflation persists, the idea of finding a meaningful job and becoming independent appears increasingly difficult. Unfortunately, once someone is NEET, their mental health often remains precarious. A national survey of 300 NEET in Canada found that 22 percent reported experiencing mental health challenges.
Sadly, I fear that "meaningful" work may simply be too high a standard to set for entry-level employment. Most of the NEETs I personally meet have their eye on work in finance, computing science, entertainment or the arts and humanities. Some of those fields, like computing software development, are still growing, though slower than before.
To be frank, though, I’ve not met one aspiring electrician, carpenter, plumber, farmer, nurse, home care worker or truck driver who is stuck at home. In other words, have we oversold the value of a college education that is not in the trades and is the growing number of youth who are NEET the natural consequence?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fastest-growing employment opportunities are happening in areas like wind turbine and solar panel installation, audiologists, and other services for the elderly. Have we somehow left young people with a perception that work has to always be meaningful and match their talents to be worthwhile and monetarily rewarding?
The Beginning of a Solution
I believe that one way to help young people may be to help them gently realize that their dream employment may not be attainable, at least in the short term. As Gloria Willhardt, a German researcher, has shown through her studies of NEETs, no amount of positive thinking and self-efficacy are going to change the very real barriers to employment many young people experience. What does matter, according to Willhardt, is “career decidedness.” That is the certainty that comes with being committed to finding a job where we are needed and can derive a sense of accomplishment, even if that is not the ideal job we hoped to find.
Maybe it’s time, then, that we invite NEETs to reconsider their career choices and look realistically at the employment opportunities that are available. If we don’t, then research tells us that the very real wear and tear of being NEET is likely to produce a never-ending feedback loop where unemployment breeds apathy and apathy feeds a mental health crisis.
My point of arguing this is not because I want young people to give up hope of better jobs. I’m saying this because, as a scholar of resilience, it’s clear that when one solution or set of aspirations proves futile, resilience is only possible if we demonstrate the flexibility to compromise and change direction.
If a career in finance won’t provide an entry-level stepping stone to a lifelong career, then maybe our young adults need to be encouraged to find a different way to make a living. For parents who are trying to be supportive of their adult children, this is a harsh pill to swallow.
Key points
References
LMI Insights Report no. 17 (August 2019). Finding Their Path: What Youth Not In Employment, Education or Training (NEET) Want. https://lmic-cimt.ca/publications-all/lmi-insights-report-no-17-finding-their-path-what-youth-not-in-employment-education-or-training-neet-want/
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Outlook Handbook. https://www.bls.gov/ooh/fastest-growing.htm
Veldman, K., van Zon, S. K. R., & Bültmann, U. (2024). Once in NEET, always in NEET? Childhood and adolescent risk factors for different NEET patterns. European Journal of Public Health, 34(3), 505–510. https://doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/ckae025
Willhardt, G., Klehe, U., & Scharfer, M. (2025). Setting Sails for Your Harbor: Navigating Beyond NEET Status Through Self-Efficacy and Career Decidedness. Journal of Adolescence. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.70051
