The number of young people choosing not to attend school, work or receive training, known as NEETs, rose to 850,000 in 2002, up from 670,000 in 1992, the government said on Wednesday. The acronym NEET (Not in Employment, Education or Training) was coined in Britain in the late 1990s to describe teenagers from low-income families who made no effort to attend school or enter the workforce. Of the 850,000 15- to 34-year-olds unemployed, 430,000 said they were intending to find a job but had not actually taken any action, while 420,000 admitted they had no intention to work, according to the Cabinet Office. The Cabinet Office's latest figure was much higher than the recent figure released by Health Ministry which estimated the number of NEETs in Japan at 520,000 in 2003. The Cabinet Office said the figure rose because it included those who stay home and do housework. "We included such people because many of them tend not to have intention to work outside," said a spokesman at the Cabinet Office.
