NEARLY A MILLION YOUNG BRITS are now officially part of a lost generation, with the official numbers confirming our worst fears: the pandemic didn’t just steal school years—IT STOLE THEIR FUTURES.
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A GENERATIONAL CATASTROPHE is unfolding in plain sight. Forget the economic charts; this is about a fundamental failure to create functional adults. The shocking truth exposed by a damning government review is that Gen Z is now so socially crippled from lockdowns that they are deemed UTTERLY UNFIT FOR WORK by the very employers who should hire them.
We are not talking about a lack of opportunities. We are talking about a LACK OF BASIC HUMAN COMPETENCE. The numbers are a siren: one million young people classified as NEET. But the real horror lies in the detail—600,000 of them aren’t even LOOKING. They have simply given up, retreating into digital worlds because the real one has become too terrifying.
This isn’t an accident; it’s a DIRECT CONSEQUENCE of policy. “Generation Lockdown” was sacrificed, their critical years of social development erased by school closures and isolation. Now, as adults, they lack the simple skills previous generations took for granted: showing up on time, talking to a stranger, following instructions. Chief Impact Officer Julie Leonard’s assessment is brutal: these young people “missed out” on the core experiences that make one “work-ready.”
THE DAMAGE IS PERMANENT
The proof is in the corporate boardrooms. Giants like PwC and KPMG are now forced to run INFANTILIZING “resilience training” and “soft skill sessions” for university graduates—essentially teaching them how to be people. PwC openly blames the pandemic for a generation lacking “human-skills.” This is not upskilling; this is SOCIETAL DAMAGE CONTROL. We have produced a cohort that the professional world views as emotionally fragile and socially inept.
The advice from experts? A desperate, almost pathetic return to a bygone era: abandon the digital job hunt, they say. Walk down the high street and BEG for a menial job. This isn’t empowerment; it’s an admission that the modern system has completely failed them. The digital landscape they were born into is now rejecting them, with AI both stealing entry-level roles and coldly filtering out their AI-written resumes.
Former Labour Health Secretary Alan Milburn, leading the government review, warns that opportunities are in “sharp decline,” but the uncomfortable question remains: are the opportunities disappearing, or is an entire generation simply UNABLE to seize them? The collapse of Saturday jobs and paper rounds didn’t just kill pocket money—it killed the incubation period for adulthood.
The implications are terrifying. This isn’t a temporary employment gap; it’s a CRISIS OF HUMAN CAPITAL. What becomes of a society where nearly a million of its young are not just unemployed, but fundamentally unprepared for life itself? The system has created a permanent underclass, and we are only beginning to witness the devastating consequences.
A POINT OF NO RETURN?
The solution offered is a slap in the face: performative confidence-building, walking young adults down the street like toddlers on their first day. Meanwhile, the structural forces—AI, a brutal job market, skyrocketing competition—converge into an impenetrable wall.
We engineered this disaster with every lockdown extension and remote-learning mandate. Now, the bill has come due. The haunting reality is that we may have an entire generation whose potential was permanently stunted before they ever got a chance. This is more than an economic statistic; it’s the sound of a social contract being shredded.
The advice is a shocking indictment of our times: abandon technology and beg in person.
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The most disturbing part? The experts and officials can only diagnose the disease. The cure—rewiring the socialization of millions—may be impossible. We condemned them to their rooms, and now we wonder why they can’t function in an office.
Author: Kayitsi.com
