Young people not sharing in the welcome jobs growth

date: 18 July 2012

embargo: For immediate release

Responding to the latest unemployment figures published today (Wednesday) by the Office for National Statistics, TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'These figures are excellent news. People will be relieved to see unemployment falling sharply and redundancies decreasing.

'It is also encouraging to see full-time jobs making up three quarters of recent employment growth, and there has been a welcome increase in vacancies. The labour market is proving far more resilient than the rest of the economy.

'The only people not sharing in this good news are young people looking for work. Long-term youth joblessness is up by 18,000 on the quarter to reach 421,000.

'The government must prioritise tackling long-term youth unemployment before any more careers are wrecked before they barely get off the ground.

'And while more people are in work, they are still getting poorer in real terms in wages grow at less than half the rate of inflation.

'Jobs growth needs to be accompanied by stronger wage growth if consumer spending is to help drive our economic recovery.'

NOTES TO EDITORS:

Top 10 employment blackspots, June 2012

Source: nomisweb

- The claimant to vacancy ratio for local authorities across Great Britain is available from the press office.

- The latest labour market statistics are available at http://bit.ly/MHuaiD

- The number of 18-24 year olds out of work for between 6 and 12 months has increased by 9,000 to 181,000 while the number of 18-24 year olds out of work for over a year has increased by 9,000 to 240,000.

- Further analysis of the labour market figures is available at www.touchstoneblog.org.uk

- All TUC press releases can be found at www.tuc.org.uk

Contacts:

Media enquiries:

Liz Chinchen T: 020 7467 1248 M: 07778 158175 E: media@tuc.org.uk

Rob Holdsworth T: 020 7467 1372 M: 07717 531150 E: rholdsworth@tuc.org.uk
Elly Gibson T: 020 7467 1337 M: 07900 910624 E: egibson@tuc.org.uk