There are now 82,000 young New Zealanders who are not in education, employment or training with the unemployment rate set to further increase.

Those aged 15 to 24 years currently have an unemployment rate of 12.4 percent, compared to the national rate of 4.3 percent.

The national unemployment rate is the highest it has been since mid-2021 and is forecast to further increase beyond 5 percent by next year.

Those who are not in education, employment or training are in a category known as NEET.

Salvation Army Social policy analyst Paul Barber told Checkpoint the impacts of rising unemployment levels were felt unequally and young people were the most affected.