Tom MacInnes, research director at the New Policy Institute, said the severity of the economic downturn on younger people across the country has led to many being unable to find work for prolonged periods and this could have long-term impact on their wellbeing.
He commented: "Your ability to hold down a job in later life in your late twenties and thirties is limited by experience of unemployment when you are younger."
Therefore, Mr MacInnes argued that it is not just detrimental to young people at the moment when so many of them are out of work, but it could be an issue that will be going into the years – and even decades – ahead.
According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, the unemployment rate for the three months to April 2010 was 7.9 per cent, up 0.1 on the previous quarter.
The number of unemployed people increased by 23,000 over the quarter to reach 2.47 million.
