Youth opportunity index
Our Youth Opportunity Index brings together the key outcomes both in terms of education and employment for young people in Wales.
It allows us to highlight the opportunities available to our young people at a local level. And it shows some stark inequalities. For example, residents in Monmouthshire have double the enrolment rate for Higher Education courses than those in neighbouring Blaenau Gwent, while the apprenticeship participation rate for 16-24 year olds is three times higher in Neath Port Talbot than in Cardiff or Ceredigion.
The index shows that the four lowest ranking local authorities are in the South East Wales Valleys (Torfaen, Merthyr Tydfil, Blaenau Gwent and Caerphilly), showing that opportunities today – both in education and in employment for young people – remain unevenly distributed and are entrenching existing inequalities. It reveals that where you live has an unacceptably high bearing on level of attainment and opportunities for young people, with those growing up in our poorest communities just not getting a fair chance.
Explore the data:
Interactive map of Youth Opportunity Index
The Index gives a relative measure of education and employment opportunities for young people across each of Wales’ local education authorities. The score for each area reflects how its performance compares with the best-performing area; the higher the score, the better the performance. Results are presented as a heatmap, with darker shades representing higher scores.
- Apprenticeships. Apprenticeship starts as a proportion of 16-24s in a local area.
- Capped 9. Average of top nine GCSEs, or equivalent volume of qualifications, for each learner in the cohort, including subject specific requirements for English and Welsh, maths or numeracy and a science.
- Employment. Employment rates for 23-28 year olds.
- Higher education. All undergraduate HE enrolments from a (home) local authority area, as a percentage of the 16-64 year olds without HE qualifications in the local area.
- Level 3. The proportion of 16-19 year olds resident in a local area qualified to level 3.
- NEET. Year 11 Leavers from schools in Wales known to be not in education, employment or training.
- Net Underemployment. This measure is the balance between the numbers of young people wanting to work more hours and the numbers wanting to work fewer hours.
- Overall. The average score across all indices. It gives an overall comparative measure of the education and employment opportunities for young people living in each local area.
Use this map to explore the ranked performance of local areas for each index. Use the toolbar to share, download or reset the table. Alternatively, view ranks organised by region or local education authority of index scores.
Welsh Youth Opportunity Index ranks by local education authority
Use this table to explore the ranked performance of local areas for each index.
Welsh Youth Opportunity Index ranks by region
Use this table to explore the regional ranked performance of local areas for each index. Use the toolbar to share, download or reset the table.
Explore the Youth Opportunity Index for England
Our Youth Opportunity Index gives a detailed portrait of the opportunities and challenges for every young person broken down by local education authority. It has revealed the intra-regional differences in England as well as regional ones.
