New jobless figures will offer ‘verdict’ on youth policy

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

TUC warns against failing unemployed

The TUC has urged the government not to repeat past mistakes of the recession and create a universal job guarantee for the long-term unemployed.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber made the call following concerns about the mental health and future job prospects of people out of work for more than 12 months.

“A job paying decent wages for at least six months provides the kind of experience employers want and gives an unemployed person the best possible chance of getting back to work,” Mr Barber said.

In a letter to Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper, the TUC, along with think tank Demos, the Work Foundation and James Purnell, have called for a job guarantee for anyone who has been on jobseeker’s allowance for more than 12 months.

New figures out tomorrow are expected to show an increase in unemployment.

Despite official figures showing that Britain could come out of recession soon, trade unionists are concerned that the unemployed will be neglected.

Long-term unemployment can lead to the likelihood of mental health problems, relationship breakdown and issues relating to alcohol, debt and homelessness, the TUC argued.

In previous recessions during the 1990s, unemployment continued to rise for 18 months after the crisis had officially ended.

Mr Barber said: “While recent economic indicators offer reasons for cautious cheer, unemployment remains a huge concern.

“There must not be a repeat of the last two recessions, when millions of people were stuck in semi-permanent unemployment long after the economy had recovered.

“Long periods out of work can have a devastating impact on people’s health, while mass unemployment can crush communities. A universal job guarantee would help prevent this.”

But RMT general secretary Bob Crow said that, despite assurances from commentators about heading out of recession, “for hundreds of thousands of people the misery of long-term unemployment is a daily reality.

“What we need is a government programme of job creation, funded by the nationalised banks, targeted at house building, infrastructure projects and investing in public services,” said Mr Crow.

“That radical approach would make a real and lasting difference and is at the heart of the campaign around the People’s Charter.”

Taken from Morning Star

Long-term unemployment has doubled, TUC says

The number of people on Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) for more than a year has nearly doubled, the TUC has said.

Those claiming JSA for more than 12 months rose to 201,015 in November 2009, up from 103,930 in December 2008.

And 58 local authorities now have over 1,000 long-term claimants, compared with 19 last year.

The TUC is urging the government to extend its job guarantee for young people to everyone who has been unemployed for 18 months.

The TUC made the calculations using official claimant count data.

It wants to see the long-term unemployed entitled to a job paying at least the minimum wage for a minimum of six months.

Job Seeker’s Allowance currently stands at £50.95 a week for 16-24 year olds, and £64.30 a week for those aged 25 and over.

Damaging

The TUC is also calling for more help for those groups it says are at most risk of becoming the long-term unemployed.

These include people over 50, those who have spent a long time out of the labour market while caring for children or those with a history of unemployment.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber says long-term joblessness is damaging.

“Every job loss is a human tragedy, but when people are out of work for over a year they risk being permanently scarred by joblessness,” he said.

“The government should extend its job guarantee for young people to anyone out of work for 18 months to stop people getting mired in semi-permanent joblessness.”

In his recent pre-Budget report, Alistair Darling announced that the government was extending its guarantee of a job or training to all young people who had been unemployed for six months.

Previously only those under 24 years old who had been jobless for 12 months were eligible.

The chancellor said he hoped to raise £550m from a 50% tax on bankers’ bonuses to help ease unemployment.

In response to the TUC report, work and pensions minister Helen Goodman said long-term unemployment was an issue the government was trying to tackle.

“Action taken to help people back to work in the teeth of a deep global recession, backed by £5bn, has had a significant impact,” she said.

“At 12 months unemployment everyone gets intensive support through the government’s flagship flexible New Deal programme.”

Part-time workers

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit fell by 6,300 in November to 1.63 million, the first fall in claimants since February 2008.

However the number of people unemployed in the UK, using the government’s preferred measure, now stands at 2.49 million.

These figures show that the number of people jobless for more than a year increased by 49,000 in the latest quarter to 620,000, the highest since 1997.

The number of people who say they are working part-time because they cannot find a full-time position rose by 34,000 in the quarter and now stands at over 1 million.

Taken from BBC News