www.tucdate: 22 April 2009

embargo: For immediate release

TUC welcomes help for young unemployed

Commenting on the employment programme for young people announced in the Budget today (Wednesday), TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber said:

'The Chancellor's announcement of a £2 billion programme to offer a guarantee of training or work for young people unemployed for more than a year is very welcome. It is very close to what the TUC has been urging ministers to do.

'A detailed analysis of how the recession has hit young people shows just how badly it is needed. The rate of unemployment amongst young people has been rising rapidly since the end of 2007, long before the rest of the population was affected by this recession.

'But while this scheme is welcome, its timescale is not urgent enough. It needs to start this year - not 2010 - so that it can help the tens of thousands of young people who are unemployed now.'

Background briefing on youth unemployment

Currently 111,000 young people (aged 18-24) have been unemployed for over 12 months and the TUC expects this to rise to 250,000 by the time the programme is introduced in early 2010. The Government's aim to provide jobs or training for 200,000 young people falls somewhat short but is in the right area.

However, it is unlikely that most of the very long-term unemployed young people will get jobs in the meantime, so we could see more than 100,000 young people who have been unemployed for over two years by the time the scheme is in place. If the scheme were rolled out with immediate effect, the TUC believes that 50,000 places could be created within six months in the towns and London boroughs with the highest levels of long-term unemployment.

The scale of youth unemployment

The latest employment figures (December 2008 - February 2009) show that:

• The unemployment rate for young people had increased by 3.2 percentage points since the same period last year compared to:
• - An increase of 1.1 percentage points for adults aged 25-49 and the same amount for adults aged 50 and over.
• Between 631,000 young people were unemployed including:
• - 396,000 young men were unemployed (17.6 per cent), and
• - 235,000 young women were unemployed (12.2 per cent).
• 111,000 young people (17.6 per cent of all unemployed young people) had been unemployed for over 12 months. This is the highest number of long-term unemployed young people since the third quarter of 1997.
• 17.4 per cent of young people had been unemployed for over six and under twelve months (110,000 young people). This is the highest number of young people unemployed for over six months since the second quarter of 1995.
• Unemployment is affecting young people more than any other age group. The unemployment rate for young people aged 18-24 in the most recent data was 15.1 per cent, compared to:
• - 5.2 per cent for adults aged 25-49, and
• - 4 per cent for adults aged 50 and over.
• Youth unemployment has been rising slowly since 2004, but more steeply since the end of 2007.

Adult unemployment rates by age group Q2 1992 - Q4 2008

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- Data for youth unemployment

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Press release (1,000 words) issued 22 Apr 2009