UK unemployment continues to rise throughout the recession

Despite the prediction that graduate jobs would rise by 2.6 per cent this year, there is still an increasing number of applicants for the jobs that are available. The average number of applicants this year currently stands at 83, while there were 69 in 2010 and only 49 in 2009. Universities have also recorded an influx of applications every year for the past few years, which not only means that those who were unsuccessful are thrust into the job market now, but also that the increasing number of graduates entering the job market will increase year on year.

Chief Economic Adviser of CIPD, John Philpott, commented: "These labour market figures are truly horrific, with the economy shedding almost 15,000 jobs each week between June and August. The quarterly rise in unemployment is reminiscent of an economy in recession rather than any kind of recovery and confirms that the private sector just isn’t creating enough jobs at present to offset public sector job cuts.

"With 5.6 unemployed people for every job vacancy the labour market is back to where it was in the depths of recession in 2009 and the underlying problem is getting even worse given that 1 in 3 unemployed people have now been without work for over a year. Many more months like this and we’re likely to see the re-emergence of the kind of ‘Gissa Job’ economy that scarred Britain in the 1980s and 1990s.

"As the CIPD expected, youth unemployment didn’t rise by the 85,000 figure required to take the total above 1 million by the end of August. However, given the background deterioration in the labour market we now expect that milestone to be reached next month."

The fact that the situation doesn’t appear likely to improve in the near future, more people are turning to freelancing to make a living. There are certain niches, like graphic design jobs and web design jobs, that are riding through the recession with almost the same level of demand, which means that there is still money in freelance work. Content writer jobs are also benefitting from the fact that communication is always a necessity in the business world, so there is hope yet for 8.1 per cent of us.

Source: Leaderlive.co.uk, Thursday 20th October 2011