This Podlet concentrates on youth who are not in employment, education or training (NEET). In the context of NEET, the ‘risk’ is that they will fail to make the transition into the workforce either directly from secondary school or from further education and training, and are therefore likely to suffer long-term labour market scarring.

An issue around the world, in the United States, NEETs are increasingly being referred to as ‘Opportunity Youth’. In Latin America, the phrase 'ninis' (for 'ni estudian ni trabajan' from the Spanish), has been coined to describe this group. Prior to 1999 in the UK, NEETs were referred to as ‘Status Zero’