According to economists, Britain is facing a national disaster in the number of young people who are out of work. Almost 20% of those aged 16 to 24 are jobless with about 947,000 unable to find work.

The jobless rate in the country has risen by over 200,000 in the past three months alone, bring the total of unemployed to 2.47 million – the highest it has been in over 14 years. The unemployment rate stands at 7.9% today – up from 5.6% one year ago.

The recession has exacted a toll on the people and the economy of Britain. According to the figures released by the Office for National Statistics, only a few groups are experiencing any success in obtaining work, such as those in the public sector and foreign-born workers.

David Blanchflower, a former labour market specialist and official with the Bank of England, says that the numbers of those graduating from colleges and universities is the largest they have been for some time.

Thus the young people are coming out of school and unable to find jobs, which makes the recession that much worse for this age group. He fears that the graduates will have permanent scars because of the lack of job opportunities that are open to them.

Blanchflower went on to say, “Firms have stopped hiring at a time when there are lots of young people around. This is a national disaster. The Government needs to do everything it can to get them off the unemployment registers. I believe there is going to be another huge jump.”

His analysis of the job market for the young people of Britain was confirmed by the reports from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which warns that joblessness will continue to rise for some time to come. There were 2.7 jobs lost between December of 2007 and July of 2009 and predicts that ten million more people will lose their jobs by the end of 2010.

OECD-wide unemployment is the highest it has been since it started keeping records at 8.35%. It predicts that this percentage will likely reach 10%.

Stefano Scarpetta of the organisation said, “We are facing a jobs crisis. This is the most rapid increase in unemployment we have seen since the early 1970s. There has been a huge increase in youth unemployment. We need to prevent a lost generation of young individuals who are not being given a chance.”

Almost 20% of young people in Britain are unable to find a job. A further 34.6% are classified as inactive, which means they are on sick leave or have become despondent with the job market and have stopped searching for work. The number of people claiming jobless benefits rose by 24,400 in August to a total of 1.61 million, the highest it has been since May of 1997.

The hardest hit areas of the economy are the financial services, construction and manufacturing and many employees are settling for minimal increases or freezes in pay. Average earnings have only increased by 2.2% in May, June and July of this year – the lowest rates since 2001.

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