Legal News
Unemployment set to rise despite showing some fall in recent times says a think tank (10 December 2012)
Date: 10/12/2012
An IPPR analysis on unemployment problems has given a bleak outlook predicting that more than a million young people would be rendered jobless.
The think tank IPPR has said that though the figures in recent times had shown a fall in youth unemployment it was due to growth in part time and self-employment, and the Olympics factor when there was boost to jobs.
The rate of youth unemployment had declined but the rate remained high. By next time next year there would be an extra 200,000 people in Britain without jobs the think tank predicted.
Although unemployment has been falling IPPR analysis of Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts this week shows there may be worse to come next year.
Unemployment will not peak until 2014, says the OBR, and might not get back to where it is now until the end of 2015.
The IPPR's analysis, which is based on the pattern of the increase in 2011, a period of similar labour market change, shows that a further 86,000 under-25s may join the benefit queues next year.
Long-term unemployment could rise by 32,000 to a total of 926,000. A further 47,000 people over 50 may also become unemployed.
The north-west may bear the brunt of job losses with an extra 64,000 people likely facing employment redundancy in 2013, followed by 53,000 in London. However, unemployment may fall by 11,000 in the West Midlands, by 7,000 in Northern Ireland and by 2,000 in south-west England.
IPPR researcher Spencer Thompson said the prediction was bleak especially for young people and the long-term unemployed. Hundreds of thousands were at risk of permanent employment redundancy in the labour market: having their long-term outlook damaged by long periods of unemployment or by a difficult and patchy entry into the world of work.
The government should guarantee a job, paid at the minimum wage or above, to anyone who has been out of work and claiming jobseeker's allowance for more than 12 consecutive months. If people did not want to take up this offer, they should be expected to find an alternative that does not involve claiming jobseekers' allowance Mr Thompson said.