Lily-Rose Bisson, a 20-year-old from Leeds, has described her five-month job search as a never-ending struggle after submitting approximately 200 applications and receiving only one interview. She told The Independent that the process has become increasingly demoralising due to the widespread use of artificial intelligence in screening applications.
AI screening frustrates jobseekers
“You’ll spend anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours on an application, and within an hour of submitting it will get rejected,” Bisson explained. Despite holding GCSEs, A-Levels, and two previous jobs, she finds that most applications are filtered out by automated systems. “Every application gets screened by AI, and if you don’t have the keywords they’re looking for, it will be screened out. I once got an email 20 minutes after applying saying ‘we’re not going forward with your application’.”
She estimates that out of 100 applications, she hears back from a real person only twice, receives an automated response about 15 times, and the rest receive no reply at all. The majority of responses come from AI bots, a trend that has been increasingly reported by jobseekers across the UK.
Rising Neet numbers
Bisson is among more than one million young people in the UK classified as Neet – not in employment, education, or training. Official data released on Thursday showed that the number of Neets has reached 1.01 million, the highest level in over 12 years. This group includes both unemployed 16-24-year-olds actively seeking work and those who are economically inactive.
The figures coincide with the publication of an interim report by Alan Milburn, commissioned by the government, into young people and work. Milburn, a former Labour health minister, stated: “This is not a failure of young people. It is a failure of a system stuck in the past. Whether it is education or health or welfare, that system fails to enable their participation in the labour market.” He added that the system too often puts young people on a path to benefits rather than jobs.
Government response and youth guarantee
The government’s flagship policy to tackle youth economic inactivity is the ‘youth guarantee’, announced in September last year. It aims to provide 18-21-year-olds in England with access to apprenticeships, training, education, or job support. Those who have been Neet for more than 18 months will be offered a six-month paid work placement, but refusal could result in loss of benefit entitlement.
Bisson, who aspires to work in the creative sector after studying film at A-Level, said: “This isn’t the environment where you get to pick and choose what job you want to do. If you're looking for a job and something comes up, you have to take it, and if you don't, then they can deny your [universal] credit, which I think is insane.”
She has been supported by Spear, a youth employment programme that helps young people overcome barriers to work. Around 70% of its participants are in work or education within a year. The charity’s CEO, Iona Ledwidge, commented: “Alan Milburn has rightly highlighted that the UK currently spends 25 times more on benefits for young people than it spends on supporting them into work. We believe there is a gulf between where many jobless young people are and where employers need them to be before they are ready for work.”
Cost of youth unemployment
Milburn’s interim report estimates that the UK’s youth unemployment crisis costs the country approximately £125 billion annually, more than the entire education budget and nearly double defence spending. This includes lost tax revenue and higher health and welfare costs. The report also notes a decline in entry-level jobs, with 1.6 million fewer low and medium-skilled roles than in previous decades.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden responded: “I commissioned this report because we cannot afford to lose a generation of young people, and I welcome Alan Milburn’s vital work which lays bare the scale of the challenge and the root causes of youth unemployment we now need to confront. I will work across government and with employers, charities and young people to drive real change, so more young people are earning or learning, not left behind.”
Mental health and the ‘bedroom generation’
Milburn also highlighted rising mental health issues linked to social media, warning of a “bedroom generation” where anxiety related to mobile phone use drives economic inactivity among young people. The proportion of young people experiencing mental health problems has risen sharply, and the number of Neets inactive due to poor health has increased by 52% since 2019.
Bisson, who has faced mental health challenges herself, said: “Our key developmental years we were forced to spend all our time in our bedrooms alone. We just missed out on the normal childhood opportunities. So yes, this is a ‘bedroom generation’, but we would rather be out in the world.”
