Young people are being excluded from the recovery, warns TUC

Commenting on the latest unemployment figures published today (Wednesday), TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

“While it’s good news that unemployment is still falling and more jobs are being created, there is still plenty to be worried about.

“Young people are being excluded from the recovery as youth joblessness remains close to a million. The government must admit its Youth Contract is failing and introduce a job guarantee to stop thousands more joining the dole queue.

“People’s pay packets continue to fall in real terms. Earnings growth has never been lower and the longest wage squeeze in over a century is becoming even tighter. There is also a record number of under-employed workers who aren’t able to find full-time work.

“We need more high quality jobs and proper pay rises if this recovery is to begin to feel real for hard-working people.”

NOTES TO EDITORS:

- The latest labour market figures are available at www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/october-2013/statistical-bulletin.html

- The TUC’s campaign plan can be downloaded from www.tuc.org.uk/campaignplan

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

- Follow the TUC on Twitter: @tucnews

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Elly Gibson   T: 020 7467 1337    M: 07900 910624     E: egibson@tuc.org.uk