Youth Unemployment Crisis

Newspaper headlines tend to focus on the top line number for unemployment - LFS unemployment has jumped by over 200,000 in the last three months to 2.2 m (7.1% of the labour force). But dig a bit deeper underneath the surface and you find evidence of deeper structural problems in the labour market. Good evaluative answers on unemployment policies might consider what government strategies can do to target the rate of youth unemployment which is more than double the national average rate. As today’s Independent reports -

“At 676,000 (16.1 per cent) the level of youth unemployment is as high as in the mid-1990s. It is up almost one-third on last year; 227,000 under-25s have been without work for over six months. The danger, as in previous recessions, is that another “lost generation” is about to be created. The graduates and school leavers hitting the dole queues over the summer will add another quarter of a million to the jobless toll.”

I wrote a revision Q&A on youth unemployment here Younger workers are especially vulnerable in an economic recession.

The other news on jobs yesterday is that long term unemployment has now risen back over 500,000.