Alan Milburn’s report will call for benefit cuts but lack of entry-level job opportunities is also driving crisis

• ‘I’m scared about my future’: young people on the stress and desperation of jobseeking

A generation is being sold short. Almost a million young people are not in education, employment or training (Neet). Austerity and the Covid pandemic cast a lengthy shadow, AI is upending the jobs market, and the cost of living is soaring – all under the microscope of the social media age.

This week Alan Milburn’s landmark report on young people and work will bring Britain to a fork in the road: either continue on this path of state and market failure or sharply change direction.