THE number of young people not in education, employment or training in Northern Ireland - so-called 'Neets' - stood at 21,000 between October to December.
It equates to 10 per cent of the region's 16- to 24-year-olds either being economically inactive or unemployed.
However, the overall figures, published by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) is a long way off the record Neets high of 37,000 in 2015 and has been on a generally downward trend over recent years.
The percentage of young people considered to be Neet in Northern Ireland is higher than the UK average.
Neets are often referred to as the “hidden jobless”, who have fallen under the government radar and aren't availing of support mechanisms to help them achieve their potential.
Many of them have good job prospects, boasting impressive GCSE qualifications and having continued with their education beyond 16, but who refuse to go to job centres because they fear being treated badly, while others lack the necessary documents.
Those Neets who are not accessing statutory support are easy to ignore as they don’t affect claimant counts, welfare budgets and are often buried within unemployment statistics.
