Blog
Unemployment in the UK labour market
13th August 2009
We have put up a streamed presentation on the latest UK unemployment statistics - available to view here
Briefly:
*UK unemployment is now at its highest rate for 13 years
*Youth workers appear highly vulnerable in this downturn, 40% of all UK. workers losing a job during this recession are between the ages of 16 and 25
*Employment has fallen and there are fewer vacancies - hence more people chasing each available job
*Many businesses have cut wages and hours
*Gap between LFS measure (2.4million) and claimant count measure (1.6 million) is widening - the government is concerned enough about this to be started an inquiry. Many people out of work may be relying on income from other family members and their own savings or redundancy payments rather than signing on as jobless