The most vulnerable ‘NEETs’ in Spain tend to come from families with the lowest levels of education.

A number of policies aimed at tackling the problem of ‘NEETs’ (young people who are not in education, employment, or training) have been implemented throughout Europe. Miquel Àngel Alegre and Federico Todeschini assess the extent of the problem in Spain. They argue that as NEETs are a highly diverse group, it is useful to make a distinction between ‘vulnerable’ and ‘severely vulnerable’ individuals. They find that the most vulnerable NEETs are found far more frequently in families where neither parent has entered higher education, and that once young people find themselves in a NEET situation it is extremely difficult for them to escape it.