Unemployment grows with one fifth of youngsters out of work

Unemployment has hit 2.5million with one-in-five young people out of work, official figures show.

The jobless total rose by 49,000 in the three months to November as redundancies increased and the number of people classed as ‘economically inactive’ reached 9.3million.

One in five 16 to 24-year-olds is jobless after an increase of 32,000 to 951,000, according to Office for National Statistics data. It is the highest figure since records began in 1992.

However, the Department for Work and Pensions said 270,000 of those were in full-time education while they looked for work.

Labour leader Ed Miliband accused David Cameron of ‘complacency’ over the unemployment figures. At Prime Minister’s Questions he said: ‘The truth is you are cutting too far and too fast and it is British people who are paying the price.’

Mr Cameron replied: ‘Every increase in unemployment is a matter for huge concern and that is why we are launching the biggest back-to-work programme this country has ever seen in the Work Programme.’

Public sector employment fell by 33,000 to 6million between last June and September, while the number of private sector employees remained unchanged at 23million.

Nationally, the unemployment rate is now 7.9 per cent. But for 16 to 24-year-olds it is 20.3 per cent.

In the West Midlands, unemployment has reached 9.9 per cent, in the north-east it is 9.6 per cent while in London it is 9.2 per cent.

The figures are similar to those seen in European countries which are close to or have gone bankrupt.

Unemployment in Iceland is 7.3 per cent, in Italy it is 8.2 per cent, Greece is at 11 per cent and in Ireland it is 13.6 per cent.