UK Unemployment Reaches 17-Year High

 

Unemployment has reached 2.57 million across the United Kingdom as the economic downturn, combined with long term trends towards youth unemployment, saw jobless figures rise again.

The U.K. statistics agency said the ranks of the unemployed swelled by 114,000 to 2.57 million in the three months to the end of August, raising the jobless rate to 8.1%.

 

Unemployment has reached 2.57 million across the United Kingdom as the economic downturn, combined with long term trends towards youth unemployment, saw jobless figures rise again.

The U.K. statistics agency said the ranks of the unemployed swelled by 114,000 to 2.57 million in the three months to the end of August, raising the jobless rate to 8.1%.

The rise in unemployment was largely caused by a steep decline in part-time jobs, the data from the Office for National Statistics showed. The number of full-time workers fell by 2,000 in the three months to August to 21.3 million, but the number of people working part-time declined by 175,000.

Youth unemployment rose sharply but stayed below the politically sensitive 1 million mark. The number of 16 to 24-year-olds out of work increased by 74,000 to a record 991,000, or 21.3 per cent of the economically active population in that age group.

Older workers were also badly affected. Over-65s accounted for 74,000 of a drop of 178,000 in employment to 29.1m in the quarter – the biggest fall in that age group since records began in 1992. That led to speculation that employers were getting rid of older workers before the abolition of the default retirement age took effect at the start of this month.

According to the Telegraph, Employment minister Chris Grayling has today announced a mix of training, work experience and a guaranteed interview to tens of thousands of unemployed people over the next two years, targeted at the under-25s.

Industrial experts said the figures laid bare the weak state of the UK economy and low business confidence. Howard Archer, chief economist at IHS Global Insight, told the Telegraph: “There is no getting away from the fact that this is a very disappointing and worrying set of labour market data.

[quote]It is evident that persistent economic weakness, lower business confidence and mounting public sector job cuts are combining to take an increasing toll on jobs. Meanwhile, ongoing muted wage growth is maintaining the serious squeeze on consumers’ purchasing power.[/quote]

“This is obviously bad news for the U.K.,” Goldman Sachs Asset Management Chairman Jim O’Neill said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “If I were a policy maker, I’d be a little troubled.”