TUC: Latest employment statistics 'welcome relief' for job-seekers

The latest set of statistics relating to employment in the United Kingdom are a "welcome relief" for job-seekers according to the Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary.

Brendan Barber was commenting on the figures released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday (April 13th), which are promising for people looking for graduate opportunities.

The figures showed that the number of people employed between December 2010 to February 2011 went up by 143,000 people. Unemployment fell by about 0.1 per cent.

Although the numbers are promising, Mr Barber warned that the statistics were not all good news, as the jobs market still is not safe.

"[Wednesday's] figures are a welcome relief for those looking for work but our labour market recovery is still far from secure," he said.

"The surprise fall in unemployment is good news for the millions of people looking for work, although the fall in the number of vacancies from last month is a worrying sign."

The TUC is the national trade union centre in the United Kingdom, which represents many unions from around the country.


Source: Gradplus.com, Friday 15th April 2011

Graduate Unemployment at a 17 Year High

Graduate unemployment is increasing and recruiters have asked for a holiday to boost graduate job creation.

A report published by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and also management consultancy KPMG has shown that February was a strong month for recruitment, and overall job vacancies rose, including that for graduate jobs.

Kevin Green, REC’s Chief executive has commented “We anticipate that unemployment will increase over the spring, summer and autumn, before very slowly starting to decline at the very end of this year and into 2012. With more than 20% of young people aged 16-24 still out of work, employers are remaining cautious and favoring the more experience employee rather than a fresh graduate.

Therefore recruiters called for the government to do something that would positively affect graduate job creation and improve the prospects for the ‘lost generation’. The holiday would be a great benefit to small to medium sized enterprises and allow for increased job creation.

The outlook for women is ominous, with a decrease in female employment by 0.5% (19,000) who lost their job. Typical sectors that women work in are also still in decline with retail vacancies falling by 34,000, education by 20,000, health and social work by 18,000 and administrative and secretarial positions by 14,000. With one in three women working in the public sector the matter is also due to get worse.

The TUC’s general secretary Brendan Barber said: “The UK desperately needs an economic strategy that prioritises growth and jobs to bring revenues in and the deficit down. The current plan of deep, rapid cuts is causing job losses to mount and sending our economy in the wrong direction.”

Source: Pareto.co.uk, Tuesday 29th March 2011