‘These grim figures show that unemployment is still a national emergency in this country,’ a TUC spokesman told News Line.
He was responding to research which showed a huge rise in youth jobless, with employers saying they have no intention of recruiting 16-year-olds.
He added: ‘The government must make it a number one priority to avoid the spectre of mass unemployment last seen in the 1980s.’
He claimed that trade unions ‘are working hard to stop wage cuts and redundancies’.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) warned: ‘School-leavers, particularly those who are completing their GCSEs this summer, will have most difficulty finding employment this year, with only 17 per cent of employers planning to recruit from the pool of 16-year-olds leaving school.’
It found that ‘a third of employers plan to recruit those who are leaving school at 18’ and that ‘around half (49 per cent)’ of employers intend to recruit graduates leaving university this summer.
University and College Union general secretary Sally Hunt, said: ‘The tough financial situation that the country finds itself in will impact on all of us, particularly recent and new graduates.
‘UCU consistently opposed the policies that have forced students into greater levels of debt and we disputed the graduate premiums used to sell debt to potential students.
‘Those policies have ensured that graduates are entering an incredibly competitive job market with record levels of debt.’
The CIPD survey added: ‘Young people are also more likely to be recruited in the public sector than in the private sector, whether they are school-leavers aged 16 (19 per cent compared with 16 per cent), school-leavers aged 18 (39 per cent compared with 31 per cent), or graduates (57 per cent compared with 45 per cent).
‘Nearly half (45 per cent) of private sector employers surveyed do not plan to recruit from any of these groups of young people over the next three months.’
The survey also sought to find out whether employers were ‘likely to exclude’ or ‘exclude’ certain groups from the recruitment process.
It found that young people are ‘affected by discrimination from a small minority of employers. One in eight (12 per cent) of employers are likely to exclude 16-18-year-olds.’
Separate research from the Prince’s Trust and Cass Business School warned that young people in deprived areas would be hardest hit by the recession.
More than 450,000 people under 25 years old in the UK claim jobseeker’s allowance (JSA).
In the past year the numbers of those claiming JSA have increased by 80 per cent, the joint study found.
Prince’s Trust chief executive Martina Milburn warned: ‘Britain’s most vulnerable youngsters will be permanently damaged by the downturn, unless they receive the support they need.’
Many economists now predict the number of jobless will tip above three million in 2010.
The TUC spokesman’s claim that unions are ‘working hard to stop wage cuts and redundancies’ is an evasion.
TUC policy is for short time working and both the GMB and Unite have been recommending workers take pay cuts, claiming this will defend jobs.
Workers need a leadership that will fight for every job and for the future of youth.
