Young jobless total falls
The number of young people out of work has fallen as overall unemployment rose by a less than expected 88,000 to 2.47 million.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that the number of 16-24-year-olds out of work fell from 947,000 in the three months to July to 946,000 in the three months to August. Today’s figures confounded analysts who had forecast the number of young people out of work would soar to one million.
However, young jobless numbers remain close to the record high of 947,000, which is the highest since ONS records began in 1992.
Overall, the rate of unemployment remained unchanged at 7.9 per cent, below analysts’ expectations of a rise to 8 per cent.
The number of people claiming jobless benefit rose by 20,800 in September, which was less than forecast and the smallest rise since May 2008.
Analysts said it now looks less likely that unemployment will rise as high as three million in 2010 as had been feared. Howard Archer, chief UK and European Economist at IHS Global Insight, said: “The deepest job losses are now almost certainly over.”
Philip Shaw, chief economist at Investec, said: “It does suggest that the pace of deterioration in the jobs market is easing quite sharply which is encouraging for the outlook for a sustainable recovery.”
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said the figures showed “some tentative signs of a very fragile recovery in the economy.”
The data was unveiled amid rising hopes that the British economy will soon climb out of recession.
Last month, Mervyn King, Governor of the Bank of England, said there were signs that the British economy was growing again though he added that the strength of recovery remained “highly uncertain.”
A European Commission study concluded that British and European economies would return to growth by the end of the year while a study from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research, a leading think-tank, said Britain was climbing out of recession.
Economists have warned though that a period of stagnation could follow any emergence from recession.
A recent report from KPMG, the accountancy firm, also suggested that the future for the jobs market was looking brighter. The study found that permanent job appointments had increased for the first time in 17 years.
The unemployment rate among 16-24-year-olds remained static in the period at 19.7 per cent.
Children’s charities said that, despite the fall, young people were still in desperate need of help. Martina Milburn, chief executive of the Prince’s Trust, the youth charity, said: “There are still 946,000 young people who need support so there is no room for complacency. The monthly price tag is £100 million but the human cost is immeasurable.”
Yesterday, Sir Terry Leahy, the chief executive of Tesco, the nation’s largest private employer, criticised educational standards for failing to prepare teenagers for the workplace.
He said standards in school were often “woefully low” and that the education system left it to employers to “pick up the pieces.”
The group complained that it spent time training recruits in basic numeracy and writing.
Teachers, he said, were distracted by red-tape and bureaucracy from their main task of teaching the children.
His comments were embarrassing for Gordon Brown, as he is a member of the Prime Minister’s Business Council for Britain.
Source : The Times
