Crucial new figures will show whether the government’s investment in keeping young people off the dole has been paying off, the TUC has said.
Total unemployment is expected to increase again, to around 2.5 million, but the union organisation said it would be studying the data to see how many young people were out of work.
Young people have been the “big losers” throughout the recession, said the TUC, with an unemployment rate for people aged 18-24 at 18.4 per cent – which is far higher than the 6.3 per cent rate for those aged 24-49.
TUC general secretary Branden Barber warned that another increase over 10,000 would indicate that it will be a long time before the youth recession ends.
He added: “Today’s figures will be a key indication of whether the encouraging signs in last month’s statistics were just a blip or a sign that government investment is really paying off.
“It would be madness to cut the resources dedicated to helping the unemployed, as some are suggesting, when the medicine is slowly beginning to have an impact.”
Taken from Morning Star
