The latest unemployment figures, published today by the Office for National Statistics has shown another fall in the total number of people out of work in the three months up until May. This fell by 26,000 to 2.45 million with the total of young unemployed people aged between 16 and 24 dropping by 42,000 over the quarter to 917,000.
Commenting on the latest jobs figures, Tom Hadley, the REC Director of Policy and Professional Services says:
The fall in the number of unemployed is good news, the UK jobs market is on a slow road back to recovery. The positive trend in youth unemployment is particularly welcome and is something that the UK's business community can accelerate by helping to build better bridges into the world of work.
The REC's own data shows that demand for staff has increased continuously for the last 23 months, although the rate of growth has slowed over the last two months. Other forward looking research shows that a high proportion of employers are planning to increase hiring activity over the coming year which makes us optimistic that the private sector will be able to absorb additional public sector jobs cuts.
In the short-term, employers remain relatively cautious with the recruitment of new staff seen as a risk. However, there is also a risk in not recruiting. Employers need to bring in staff who can drive the business forward and avoid existing staff having to carry an unsustainable workload.
The other short-term challenge is that certain categories of job-seekers are not getting the support and guidance the need in a competitive jobs market - in particular those not catered for under the Government's work programme such as high-end professionals, recent graduates and workers looking to make the transition from public to private sector.”
