Labor must admit its policies have narrowed opportunities by driving up the costs and risks of hiring young people, says RUTH SUNDERLAND

Alan Milburn, the Labor statesman due to produce his report next month on young people not in education, work or training (Neets), is seeking to tackle the biggest problem facing the British economy.

As long as we send a million people aged 16 to 24 into an economic wilderness where they can’t start their working lives, we have little chance of prosperity or growth, let alone growth in every zip code.

It is a great betrayal of the youth. As the Institute for Economic Affairs notes, the likelihood of being a Neet is linked to regional and economic inequality.

In North East England, for example, the Neet rate of 20 percent is more than twice as high as in the South West.

Factors such as drug use, dysfunctional families and generational unemployment, where no one has had a job for decades, play a role.

In towns such as Middlesbrough, where the economy was devastated by the demise of the steel and chemical industries, around 20 per cent of children are growing up in unemployed households.

For every entry-level vacancy, there are six Neets in the North East, compared to a national average of three.

Unlike Andy Burnham, I believe there is no point in continuing to rant about Thatcher’s policies in the 1980s.

It would also be simplistic to try to draw a straight line between Neet levels and the recent tragic events on Teesside.

Most young people in that category are law abiding and do their best.

But lack of opportunity and hope creates fertile ground for gangs, drugs and violence.

The increase in the number of Neets mainly occurs among young men; the number has increased by 25,000 in the past year.

We risk creating a large cohort excluded from the usual milestones of young adulthood: buying a house, becoming a father, and raising a family.

The potential for dissatisfaction and worse is clear. Stigmatizing young people because they are Neet would be pointless and unjust.

Middle-class youth are now experiencing difficulties climbing the career ladder.

Graduate openings have fallen off a cliff. According to job site Adzuna, only 8,383 listings were advertised in July.

In the summer of 2017, more than 55,000 vacancies for graduates were offered.

The government’s main anti-Neet measure, the jobs guarantee, is unlikely to do much good.

There needs to be a frank discussion about the link between Neets and mental health problems, based on the premise that goal-oriented work is positive for psychological well-being.

But it will all fail unless the government admits that its policies have suppressed opportunities by driving up the costs and risks of employing young people.

Vicious circle?

The rise in Nvidia shares after its results surprised the market is being taken as a sign that we can put aside concerns about an AI crisis.

My concern is that it may not be immediate, but it is just a matter of time. The concern that Nvidia tried to address concerns “circular financing.”

This is complex and opaque. Essentially, it’s the trusted practice of financing your customers – by lending them money, guaranteeing loans or taking equity stakes so they can buy your products.

Nvidia has lined up six big Wall Street names, including Goldman Sachs, BlackRock, KKR and Apollo, promising to lend more than $500 billion to customers to buy chips and build data centers.

It compensates for part of any losses. It’s uncomfortably reminiscent of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008, when it was discovered that banks had created a huge mountain of debt, much of it lurking off the balance sheet.

Michael Burry, the American investor who foresaw the crisis, speaks of a similar disaster now preparing.

The Bank for International Settlements, which repeatedly warned of unsustainable debt ahead of the crisis, says an AI crisis could be as disruptive to lending as the subprime maelstrom of 2008. Buckle up.

Cryptocurrency

Congratulations to the 240 people who each made £1m profit from crypto in 2024/25, according to HMRC figures.

About 17,600 had an average profit of £78,000 on bitcoin and its rivals.

Good for them. Call me cynical: I’m pleasantly surprised that all these good citizens reported their profits to the tax authorities, but I wonder how many more didn’t.