Unemployment continues to rise
By politics.co.uk staff
Unemployment shot up by 49,000 in the last three months to the end of November, official figures show.
The Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that unemployment in the UK had now hit 2.5 million.
One in five 16- to 24-year-olds are now out of work, after a rise of 32,000 saw the figure reach 951,000 – the highest level since records began.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Douglas Alexander commented: “These grim figures confirm the risk George Osborne is taking in cutting too far and too fast.
“The government still doesn’t seem to understand that a longer dole queue means a higher welfare bill.
“Continuing high unemployment across the country – including worrying figures for women and young people – is a real concern a year into the recovery.”
TUC general secretary Brendan Barber warned that Britain faced a “real danger of losing another generation of young people”.
“With the worst of the cuts still to come, this government risks making high joblessness a permanent feature of our economy,” he said. “It must change course before it’s too late.”
There was no rise in Jobseekers’ Allowance claims, however, which actually fell slightly by 4,100.
Average earnings continued to rise by 2.1% and the unemployment rate stayed level at 7.9%
