Mass migration directly fuelling Britain’s youth unemployment crisis, new research finds

Mass migration is directly fuelling the youth unemployment crisis, new research has shown.

Migrants have snapped up three times as many jobs as young Britons since 2020, with 27 migrants from outside the EU hired for every British young person.

New research from the Centre for Social Justice has found non-EU youth on the UK payroll to have increased by 355 per cent from 2020.

Meanwhile, the British youth workforce has grown by less than one per cent since that same time.

Labour is set to be slammed for failing to tackle youth unemployment in the UK in a new report on Thursday.

Former minister and author of the report Alan Milburn has warned British youth are at risk of becoming a "lost generation", with the number of 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) set to rise to 1.25 million by 2031.

And the research proves young migrants are taking roles which would have otherwise gone to young Britons.

Between 2024 and 2024, the number of non-EU under-25s on payrolls increased by 33,200 and the number of UK-nationals of the same age fell by 32,300.

Migrants are mostly taking entry-level positions from young Britons, the Centre for Social Justice has found.

In a speech later, Mr Milburn will say the "first rung of the career ladder has thinned" and put employment out of reach.

He added: "That places them in a hopeless Catch-22 where employers ask for work experience but the opportunities for young people to gain it have narrowed or gone."

Reform UK's Home Affairs Spokesman Zia Yusuf said British workers were being "pushed to the back of the queue" in the job market.

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He told the Daily Mail: "Young Brits should be first in line for jobs, training and opportunities in their own country, not forced to compete against record levels of imported labour."

Chris Philp, Shadow Home Secretary, said: "Young British people are being locked out of the labour market as immigration into entry-level work continues at scale. Mass immigration undermines our society and low wage immigration is bad for the economy.

"Labour must go further and reform indefinite leave to remain before their hard-left flank forces them to abandon reform altogether. The window is closing and they know it."

Mr Philp said a Conservative government would introduce an annual immigration cap, tighten and extend the conditions for indefinite leave to remain, and close loopholes which allow those on temporary visas to stay indefinitely.

"We want a small number of highly skilled migrants and no low-skilled migration at all. But sadly, Labour do not have the backbone to do any of it," he added.

The Centre for Social Justice has called on the Government to introduce a tax cut for businesses hiring young people.

It also suggested to restrict benefits for young people with less severe mental health conditions, and to require employers to advertise vacancies to the UK workforce before the roles are offered through work visa schemes.

Joe Shalam, policy director at the Centre for Social Justice, said: "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."