What was claimed
Youth unemployment is at its highest ever.
Our verdict
Incorrect. While both the unemployment rate and the number of unemployed 16-24 year olds reached their highest levels in a decade in December 2025, these figures were consistently higher than they are now between late 2008 and early 2015.
“I am not going to welcome the fact that youth unemployment is at its highest ever. I am not going to welcome the fact that unemployment has increased every single month under this Labour Government.”
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch MP, claimed the UK’s youth unemployment is its “highest ever”.
This isn’t correct. Both the number of unemployed 16-24 year olds and the rate of unemployment for this demographic was higher than current levels between 2009 and 2015, though the latest figures do represent a 10-year high.
Data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows the unemployment rate among 16-24 year olds was 16.1% in the three months to December 2025, while the number of this age group who were unemployed was 739,000.
While the unemployment rate for young people did reach its highest level since early 2015 in October-December 2025, it was consistently 16.1% or higher between September-November 2008 and December 2014-February 2015, as well as between March-May 1992 and March-May 1995.
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The number of unemployed young people in the period from October-December 2025 was higher than at any point since December 2014-February 2015, but again, this is not the highest figure “ever”. It was above 739,000 for all but one three-month period between July-September 2008 and December 2014-February 2015, as well as between March-May 1992 and March-May 1995.
Both the highest youth unemployment rate and highest number on record were recorded in the three months to November 2011, when 1,054,000 people aged 16-24 were unemployed—a rate of 22.5%.
These figures are based on the Labour Force Survey, which has been undergoing improvements in recent years due to lower than usual response rates following the Covid-19 pandemic. We’ve written more about how unemployment is measured here.
We’ve asked Mrs Badenoch about her claim, and will update this article if we receive a response.
Mrs Badenoch also said that unemployment has risen “every single month under this Labour government”. We’ve heard this claim from Mrs Badenoch and other Conservative politicians before. It’s also incorrect, as we’ve previously explained.
MPs should correct false or misleading claims as soon as possible. Following a campaign backed by thousands of Full Fact supporters, since April 2024 MPs who are not in ministerial positions have been able to correct the official record.
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