Press Story

Reacting to today's rise in unemployment, the think tank IPPR says: "While on the whole unemployment appears to be neither improving nor getting worse, unemployment among 16-24 year-olds has increased by 15,000 in the latest quarter, with 973,000, or 21.4%, out of work."

Spencer Thompson, Economist Analyst at IPPR, said:
"Today's jobs statistics shows a largely unchanged labour market. The situation as a whole is not getting drastically worse, but the green shoots seen in the wider economy are not yet translating into a fall in unemployment. Employment has shown an increase, but the unemployment rate is unchanged at 7.8 per cent and appears to be levelling off after the sustained fall we saw in 2012. Growth in living standards appears to be a long way off as well, with growth in regular pay of 1.1% still well below consumer price inflation of 2.9 per cent.

"One area of particular concern is the performance of young people in the labour market. While on the whole unemployment appears to be neither improving nor getting worse, unemployment among 16-24 year-olds has increased by 15,000 in the latest quarter, with 973,000, or 21.4 per cent, out of work. The danger is that when the economy really starts to get moving again, the young will miss out. This will have profound economic and social costs in the future.

"Getting the youth labour market working again is going to require a concerted effort from policymakers. New IPPR research published this morning shows that half of those young people not in work or full-time education have no experience of work. As a starting point, policymakers should consider implementing a jobs guarantee, which would provide much needed work experience and employability skills to the growing ranks of unemployed youth."

Notes to editors:
For today's latest unemployment statistics, see:
http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/lms/labour-market-statistics/august-2013/index.html
IPPR's new report - 'A job for everyone: What should full employment mean in 21st century Britain?' - is available here: http://bit.ly/IPPR11002
IPPR's report - 'Youth unemployment in Europe: what makes a labour market 'youth friendly'?' - is available here: http://www.ippr.org/articles/56/9419/youth-unemployment-in-europe-what-makes-a-labour-market-youth-friendly
IPPR's report - Jobs for the Future: The path back to full employment in the UK - is available here: http://www.ippr.org/publications/55/7938/jobs-for-the-future-the-path-back-to-full-employment-in-the-uk
The final report of IPPR North's Northern Economics Futures Commission is available here: http://www.ippr.org/publication/55/9949/northern-prosperity-is-national-prosperity-a-strategy-for-revitalising-the-uk-economy