A new analysis has found that 27 young, non-EU migrants have been hired for every young British person since 2020.
According to the analysis by the think tank the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a crisis in youth worklessness is being “fuelled” by mass immigration.
The CSJ said that the number of non-EU workers aged under 25 rocketed by 355% since January 2020 – while the workforce who are British and under 25 grew by just 0.3 per cent.
The independent think tank’s analysis, which used new HMRC payroll data, shows that the number of non-EU migrants on payrolls aged under 25 years increased from 82,000 in January 2020 to 370,000 in December 2025 – a jump of 290,000.
During the same time, the number of UK nationals under 25 on payrolls rose by just 11,000 – with the number of under 25s not in employment, education or training (NEET) surging by almost 200,000.
“This means that, since January 2020, there have been 27 young non-EU migrant workers hired for every additional young British employee,” the Centre for Social Justice said on Wednesday.
The CSJ’s analysis was based on HMRC, UK payrolled employment by nationality, region, industry, age and sex, from July 2014 to December 2025, combining the under-18 and 18-to-24 age bands to calculate an under-25 total.
‘WE ARE AT RISK OF A LOST GENERATION’
It comes as Alan Milburn, Britain’s former Health Secretary under Tony Blair, released a damning new interim report this week warning of the UK’s “lost generation” – which notes that almost one million 16-to-24-year-olds in the UK are not in education, employment or training.
The “worrying” report on youth unemployment, commissioned by the UK Government, comes as the number of young people in Britain who aren’t in work or education exceeds a million, with Government Ministers now being told that they “must not duck the role of immigration” in driving up unemployment.
It has been described as the worst youth worklessness crisis since records began. Mr Milburn’s review said youth worklessness was costing the UK £125bn annually, driven by lost tax revenues and increasing benefit payments.
The former Labour Cabinet Minister said: “The damage done to the life chances of these young people is almost incalculable.” Milburn said that the rate of young unemployment was “more than. a statistic, it’s a warning.”
“We are at risk of a lost generation,” warned Milburn.
Joe Shalam, Policy Director at the Centre for Social Justice, said:
“Alan Milburn has powerfully exposed the scandal of nearly one million young people being left without work or training. Poor mental health, access to benefits, and weak employment support are all part of the problem.
“But the labour market these young people are trying to enter matters too. We cannot ignore the role almost half a million more non-EU migrants being employed in sectors like retail and hospitality since 2020 has played in fuelling the NEETs crisis.
“Starter roles are simply vanishing across the jobs market, made worse of course by rising costs for employers. Protecting Britain from under-cut labour is an essential first step to improving the pay, conditions and training opportunities for British young people.
The figures included in the report show that the divergence in the employment of young non-EU and UK-national workers is getting worse. Between December 2024 and December 2025, the number of non-EU under-25s on payrolls increased by 33,200, while the number of UK-national under-25s fell by 32,200.
“The surge in non-EU employment is concentrated in the entry-level sectors that have historically been the first rung on the ladder for young British workers,” added the CSJ.
The analysis further shows that in the retail and hospitality sectors, non-EU workers of all ages rose by almost half a million (473,000) – nearly doubling – between January 2020 and December 2025, while UK nationals employed in the same sectors fell by over a quarter of a million (252,000).
The CSJ’s Wasted Youth report calls on ministers to overhaul the youth labour market by easing the burden on employers hiring young Brits through the Future Workforce Credit, an effective tax cut worth 30 per cent of a NEET’s salary.
The think tank is calling for health-related benefits for young people with less severe mental health conditions to be tightened, with savings invested in NHS talking therapies, employment support, and expanded vocational routes into work.
It also wants to see the reinstatement of the Resident Labour Market Test, which required employers to advertise vacancies to the domestic workforce before offering roles through work visa schemes. The test was abolished under the new points-based immigration system in 2020.