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Reacting to today’s latest ONS employment figures, Wales TUC Economic Policy Officer Alex Bevan said:

“It is welcome news that unemployment has fallen in Wales but factors such as underemployment and zero hours contracts continue to mask the true scale of the problem.

“Today’s figures also show that austerity is continuing to hit women harder as female unemployment rose by 5,000 in the previous 6 months.

“Wales TUC welcomes the continued commitment shown by the Welsh Government to prioritise jobs and growth as displayed by the ongoing success of Jobs Growth Wales and investment in apprenticeships. However, youth unemployment remains a significant challenge and the UK Government should now offer a jobs guarantee to stop thousands more joining the dole queue.”

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