Employers in Britain have hired 27 young non-EU migrants for every one young British worker since 2020, according to new analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) that highlights a stark displacement effect in the youth labour market.
Using His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) payroll data, the think tank found that the number of non-EU nationals under 25 in employment surged from 81,500 in January 2020 to 370,900 by December 2025, a rise of 289,400 or over 355 per cent.
In the same period, the number of UK-national under-25s on payrolls rose by 11,000.
Between December 2024 and December 2025 alone, non-EU under-25 payroll employment rose by another 33,200, while UK-national under-25 employment fell by 32,200.
The figures come as nearly one million young Britons aged 16 to 24 are now classified as NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) — a total of 957,000 at the end of 2025, up by almost 200,000 since 2020.
Government forecasts warn this could rise to 1.25 million within five years, potentially costing the taxpayer up to £125 billion (€144 billion) annually in lost productivity and welfare support.
The CSJ report points to entry-level roles in hospitality, retail and other low-skilled sectors — traditionally filled by young people — increasingly being taken by non-EU migrants.
This has coincided with a sharp rise in youth unemployment, which now stands at its highest level in over a decade.
The findings have intensified criticism of the post-Brexit immigration system.
The CSJ argues that record non-EU inflows are directly displacing native youth from the labour market, while employers opt for cheaper and more immediately available migrant labour.
The CSJ called on the government to stop “ducking the role of immigration” in the youth unemployment 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,” CSJ policy director Joe Shalam said.
“Ending the sickness benefit free for all, where young people are written off claiming depression or anxiety. Clamping down on mass immigration. Scrapping the university Ponzi scheme with an apprenticeship revolution. It’s time to be bold. Or we risk losing an entire generation,” Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith said. Duncan Smith founded the CSJ in 2004.
The CSJ report adds to a growing body of evidence that Britain’s liberal approach to non-EU migration since leaving the EU has failed to protect opportunities for its own young people.
Business leaders, including the boss of Next, have warned of a deepening youth unemployment crisis, with the rate for those aged 16 to 24 now at its highest level in over a decade and higher than the EU average for the first time in a generation.
The Labour government faces mounting pressure to tighten low-skilled migration routes and deliver on its promised “Youth Guarantee” of training places and apprenticeships.
Critics say the combination of high migration, rising minimum wages and weak economic growth is pricing British youngsters out of the jobs market and creating a genuine “lost generation”.
