NEET youth: Consumer behavior in the new reality

The article considers the features of the consumer behavior of the NEET youth. Being a part of the generation Z, this group is known for its refusal to work and study, to look for some forms of employment or training. According to the European statistical data, since 2020, there has been an uneven distribution of NEETs by country, and their average share is 14%. According to the Russian data, in recent years there has been a sharp increase in NEET’s share (28%) due to the instability of the labor and education markets under the coronavirus pandemic. In Europe, the majority of NEETs are non-working (unemployed) youth; in Russia, NEETs are mainly economically inactive youth with an inadequate level or quality of training. Despite some difference in the structure of the European and Russian NEETs, their consumer behavior has common features determined by their belonging to the generation Z, whose lifestyle is based on the delay in growing up and on the development of digital space and new technologies. However, unlike other groups of the youth, NEETs do not reduce alcohol consumption, do not choose a healthy lifestyle and do not have a sense of subjective well-being. The authors identify the main strategies of the NEET consumer behavior, and the most common are basic, demonstrative and symbolic consumption mainly supported by parents, state and charity organizations. Under the pandemic, the NEETs’ attempt to keep habitual life and consumption practices was unsuccessful due to the change in the family and social support. Therefore, the NEET group was forced to leave its ‘social niche’, which allowed it to partially restore its social connections.