ONS reports unemployment still on the up

The official Government figures from the Office of National Statistics have revealed that the underlying trend of rising unemployment among the hardest-to-reach families in Britain continues to grow.

The number of people unemployed for over 24 months increased by 39,000 to reach 385,000 adding to earlier fears of a growing aspiration gap highlighted by the Prince’s Trust report which revealed that more than a quarter from poor homes feel that ‘people like them don’t succeed in life’.

Although total number of unemployed people fell by 88,000 over the quarter to reach 2.43 million, the quarterly fall in unemployment occurred mainly among people aged 16 to 24. The number of unemployed people in this age group fell by 79,000 over the quarter to reach 895,000

Steven Kirkpatrick, Managing Director, Adecco – the UK’s largest recruiter, said:

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“It is reassuring to see improvements to the jobs market in recent weeks. We have continued to see strong demand for temporary staff, and this is likely to continue throughout the summer. Temporary workers remain vital to many businesses and every business that is dependent on this resource should take the time to fully understand the implications of the new Agency Worker Regulations which will come into force in just over three months. Low confidence amongst employees has meant that many people are still reluctant to change jobs, but temporary workers should be reassured that there are jobs out there despite continued economic difficulties.”