This chart reveals little overall change in the choices young people have been making regarding their education and careers since 2010. We might have expected that the introduction of the Raising the Participation Age (RPA) legislation in England in 2013/14 would have had more of an impact. This law said that 16-17-year-olds had to stay in education or training, no matter what. But guess what? Full-time education participation remained pretty steady.

Compared with 2010, there are now slightly more 16-17 year olds engaged in education, training, and apprenticeships, and fewer in employment or labelled as NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training). But it's a very small change.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, 2021 saw the numbers of young people in education and employment take a dip, while those categorised as NEET saw a slight rise. The pandemic flipped the script for a moment there. It looks like this is going back the other way again in 2022 but we'll have to wait and see how this pans out.