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Jobless rate in region is at 9.9%
UNEMPLOYMENT in the UK rose by 48,000 in the last three months of last year, the Office for National Statistics has revealed.
This brings the total number of unemployed to 2.67 million.
The number of young people without a job rose by 22,000 to 1.04 million making the unemployment rate for 16-24 year-olds 22.2 per cent.
But in Yorkshire and The Humber the number of jobless fell over the quarter by 10,000 to 264,000, an unemployment rate of 9.9 per cent which is still higher than the national 8.4 per cent figure.
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “These figures are bad, although thankfully not quite the disaster we saw at the end of last year.
“With one in three jobseekers looking for work for over a year, and around six unemployed people for every job vacancy, the government’s mantra that there are plenty of jobs out there just doesn’t ring true. “It’s encouraging to see a small rise in employment, but this is entirely down to people taking part-time work because there are no full-time jobs available.
“Any job is better than no job at all, even if it’s on far lower pay and shorter hours, but people cannot afford to do this indefinitely. We desperately need more full-time jobs paying decent wages.
“Minister must acknowledge our jobs crisis and recognise that real action to boost growth is the only way to tackle it.”
Richard Baker, director of recruitment consultancy Robert Half UK, said: “Once again the figures from the ONS show a negative outlook in the jobs market. However, there is still increasing supply and demand for jobs in specialised areas such as accountancy, finance, IT and financial services, which are all faring far better than the national average.
“Interestingly, we are seeing a changing appetite in what companies evaluate in a candidate, with hiring managers looking to recruit specialists who can make an immediate difference to a business.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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