Defining NEET: A fringe issue or growing concern among young people?

NEW YORK - It seems there are people in their 20s around the world who are choosing to do nothing. This group even has its own acronym: NEET, which stands for "not interested in employment, education or training."

"It's a motivational issue."

But career coach Barry Drexler says it is a small group of people who are choosing not to work, get an education or learn a trade. He does not believe a recent study claiming it includes about a quarter of the 20 something's around the world.

"It is a thing," Drexler said. "It's a fringe issue though. It's not the bulk of the population."

Gregory Giangrande is a human resources expert.

"I don't think it's a real thing," he said.

There's even a debate among specialists about whether NEET even exists.

"It's hard to take an average from economies across the globe and draw any conclusions because what might be representative for the United States could be very different from less developed countries, different economies around the world," Giangrande said.

Giangrande says the pandemic dramatically changed how people think about work, but most people are still working.

"There has been this explosion of gig workers of people who are actually the younger generation who are working for themselves," Giangrande said. "Many of them are making money off the books, so they're not motivated to say that they're employed or in training, because then they have to report that income."

And for the small fringe group not interested in working or saying they cannot find work . . .

"Unless their parents are supporting them and will continue to support them, they can't sustain a life of not making any money," Drexler says.