"Top Jobs Tsar Warns: UK Risks Economic Crisis as Anxious Jobless Gen Z Struggles with Phone Dependency"

THE government’s jobs tsar has warned the UK faces an “economic catastrophe” due to youngsters being “rewired” by their phones.

More mental support and flexibility should be offered to “anxious” GenZ people, according to a report by ex-Health Secretary Alan Milburn.

Mr Milburn dubbed GenZ as the ‘bedroom generation’ Credit: PA The former Cabinet Minister said the UK risks ‘writing a whole generation off’ Credit: Getty

The Milburn Review, launched last December, looks into the rising number of youths classed as Neets – not in education, or training.

It was commissioned by Sir , as he looks to investigate why more than one million young people are out of work.

Mr Milburn dubbed GenZ as the “bedroom generation”, saying they are constantly plugged into their phones and social media at all hours.

And issuing a stark warning, the former Cabinet Minister said the UK risks “writing a whole generation off” if the current system does not change.

Speaking to The Times , he said: “The system is trapping people in worklessness rather than enabling them into work.

“This is a bedroom generation. They are sort of living in their bedrooms. They are on all the time, they’re never off.

“[Social media] is leading to some evidence of functional impairment, changing their patterns, concentration levels. That is having an impact on their ability to work.”

His interim report warns the economic inactivity crisis is being driven by a “rising tide of mental ill-health, anxiety, and neurodiversity”.

Mr Milbank urged welfare system reforms and said Brits were being ‘trapped’ in unemployment Credit: PA The Milbank Review was commissioned by Sir Keir Starmer Credit: PA

This is directly linked to the fact children are being brought up in an increasingly digital age.

And Labour’s welfare system also came under fire, with the report urging an immediate change to avoid “economic catastrophe”.

Mr Milbank said Brits were being “trapped” in unemployment, rather than being encouraged or enabled to get into work.

It comes as figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) laid bare Britain’s economic inactivity crisis.

According to the ONS, the raw unemployment rate for those aged 16 to 24 has hit 15.4 per cent.

In the first quarter of 2026, that amounted to 683,621 young people.

Around 231,030 are still in full-time education, such as college or students looking for part-time work.

But once those are stripped out, that leaves 452,591 young people who are unemployed and not in full-time education.

The second group is young people who are classed as economically inactive.

This , not studying full-time, and not currently looking for a job – many of whom are recorded as long-term sick.

In the first quarter of 2026, 831,786 youngsters aged 16 to 24 were classed as economically inactive and outside full-time education.

The total from the two groups amounts to 1,284,377 young people outside work and full-time study.

And leaders have blamed ‘ tax rises for locking youngsters out of employment.

Kate Nicholls, who chairs the hospitality and leisure trade body UKHospitality, said rising costs have led to huge job cuts.

She told The Sun: “The past two Budgets have inflicted more than £5billion of additional costs on to hospitality businesses, forcing them to cut jobs, slash hours and scrap plans for new roles.

“If the Government wants to grow the economy and get people back into work, it needs hospitality’s help.

“Rather than taxing jobs out of the sector, it should reduce our weighty cost burden to allow businesses to create .”