Youth unemployment declines

A fall in the number of jobless men and in youth unemployment helped cut the latest unemployment figures, the Office for National Statistics said.

Under the Labour Force Survey (LFS) count, unemployment fell by 5,000 to 2.51 million in the February-April period, compared with the previous three-month period. However, the unemployment rate stayed at 7.8%.

The number of jobless men fell by 12,000 to 1.41 million, but their unemployment rate was unchanged at 8.2%. The number of unemployed women rose by 7,000 to 1.09 million. However, their unemployment rate was steady at 7.3%.

The more heartening news was that youth unemployment fell by 43,000. Nevertheless, the number of jobless 16- 24-year-olds still stands at an unhealthy 951,000 and one in five young people don’t have a job.

In May, unemployment on the other main jobless measure — the claimant count — was down by 8,600 to stand at 1.51 million.

This measure only includes those people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance. The fall was not enough to move the unemployment rate, which remained at 4.5%.

Both male and female claimant numbers fell, but not enough to alter the rates of 5.5% and 3.4% respectively.