The latest government statistics show that youth unemployment has changed very little in the last three months.
The Labour market statistics, released today, announced that the unemployment rate for 16 to 24 year olds was up to 20.2% of the population in the three months leading to June 2011 – a small increase of 0.2 percentage points from the previous quarter.
There were also 949,000 unemployed 16 to 24 year olds in this period, an increase of 15,000 from the three months to March 2011.
A closer look at the statistical bulletin shows that there was a small improvement for young people aged between 16 and 17.
Young people unemployed at this age decreased by 5,000 in the quarter to reach 206,000.
Elsewhere though, the number of unemployed 18 to 24 year olds rose by 20,000 in the quarter to reach 744,000.
The statistical bulletin emphasises that young people in full-time education are counted as unemployed if they are available to work and looking for a job.
When these are excluded however, the statistics show that there were 671,000 unemployed 16 to 24 year olds in the three months to June 2011, an increase of 25,000 from the three months to March 2011.
The number of 16 to 24 year olds not in full-time education was 18.8%, up 0.5 percentage points from the three months to March 2011.
Elsewhere the Labour market statistical bulletin announced that unemployment had hit 7.9% of the economically active population, an increase of 0.1% on the previous quarter.
The total number of unemployed people increased by 38,000 to reach 2.49 million, the largest quarterly increase since the three months to June 2009.
This has lead to 1.56 million people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA) in July 2011, up 37,100 on June.
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