A Job Centre Plus shop in central Portsmouth, HampshireTHE government must cut interest rates and invest in youth as new unemployment data shows one in six young people are jobless, unions and experts warn.
Unemployment unexpectedly rose to a near five-year high with young and disabled Britons hardest hit by the shock data published by the Office for National Statistics today.
Outside of the coronavirus pandemic, this marks the highest three-month reading since the autumn of 2015.
The TUC called on Chancellor Rachel Reeves to boost spending and support fragile jobs, pointing to the record level of precarious zero-hour contracts reaching 1.2 million.
Its general secretary Paul Nowak said the job market will only get better once the economy starts to recover after the ONS said the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 per cent to 5.2 per cent into the last quarter.
It also found that employment was unchanged at 75.0 per cent and inactivity is down 0.2 to 21.0 per cent.
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