News articles

'No quick fix' for youth unemployment

There can be no quick fix to the problem of youth unemployment in the UK, it has been claimed.

Phil Flaxton, chief executive officer of Work Wise UK, said it is in the country's best interests to ensure young people get into work and there is not a "lost generation", leading to a shortfall in plumbers, nurses, teachers, doctors and many other professions in the years to come.

He commented: "For this current government and any future government that is elected after the general election, I'm sure this will be one of the issues high on their agenda."

According to figures from the Office for National Statistics, the employment rate for September to November 2009 was 72.4 per cent.

However, this figure included 1.03 million employees and self-employed people working part-time because they could not find a full-time job. The number of people in part-time employment increased by 99,000 to reach a record high of 7.71 million.