Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET)

Proportion of the youth population who are not in employment, education or training.

This indicator is measured in the Labour Force Survey (LFS). Respondents are asked questions about their labour force activity and school attendance during the reference week of the survey.

Survey responses are used to classify persons aged 15 to 29 years according to three mutually exclusive categories: those in education (including employed students), those who are employed and not in school, and those who are not in employment or in school (the NEET population). This information is used to calculate the proportion of the population aged 15 to 29 years who are NEET.

Persons in employment are those who, during the reference week, did any work for pay or profit or had a job and were absent from work.

A person is deemed to be in school (in education or training) if they attend an educational institution (primary, secondary, trade school, college or university) on a full-time or part-time basis.

• Labour Force Survey (LFS)
  • Table 37-10-0196-01 – Percentage of 15-to 29-year-olds in education and not in education by labour force status, highest level of education attained, age group and sex

• Sustainable Development Goals: Goal 8, Decent Work and Economic Growth (Agenda 2030 Sustainable Development Goals Report, December 13, 2022)
• Well-being of youth not in employment, education or training in Canada, 2015 to 2017 (Statistics Canada - Infographics, February 21, 2020)

• The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training: A regional analysis and international perspective (Education Indicators in Canada: Fact Sheet, October 18, 2022)
• Gendered impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the proportion of youth neither in employment nor education at the start of the school year (Insights on Canadian Society, May 25, 2021)
• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the NEET (not in employment, education or training) indicator, March and April 2020 (Education Indicators in Canada: Fact Sheet, September 24, 2020)
• A Profile of Youth Not in Employment, Education or Training (NEET) in Canada, 2015 to 2017 (Analytical Studies Branch Research Paper Series, November 1, 2019)
• Young people not in employment, education or training: What did they do in the past 12 months? (Labour Statistics at a Glance, February 13, 2019)

The proportion of young people who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) is a well-established indicator that has been regularly published by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) since the late 1990s and by Statistics Canada and the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC), since 2009. This indicator has been closely monitored by policy-makers as young people who are NEET may be experiencing difficulties transitioning from school to the labour market, and could be at risk for low income and social exclusion.

For more information on the NEET rate, please refer to the OECD Data web page Youth not in employment, education or training (NEET).