Youth unemployment

Unemployment has jumped by 44,000 in the last three months of 2010 to just under 2.5 million meaning that 7.9% of workers are out of a job.  However the youth unemployment hit 20.5% the highest figures since records began in 1992.

The problem is likely to get worse with the wave of redundancies that is sure to follow public sector budget cuts.  There will be more experienced job seekers now on the hunt pushing the less experienced young workforce to the sidelines.  Recruiters may not want to spend the time and money on training a young inexperienced employee when they can hire a person with 10 years experience that has just been made redundant.

More needs to be done to support young workers so they can find employment and get that vital experience.  One way in which they can get experience is to do volunteer work.  This may not be paid work but the experience will help you to get paid work latter as well as providing contacts to use in a job search.  And employers will like to see evidence of a productive, hard working candidate who shows initiative in gaining valuable work experience.