No ‘green shoots’ of recovery for the young

With journalists sighting “green shoots of economic recovery” everywhere, Socialist Worker lists a few sobering facts about youth unemployment and poverty that present a different story

• The Joseph Rowntree Trust says Britain has the highest level of youth unemployment in the European Union.

  Around 16 percent of young adults in Wales aged between 16 and 25 are unemployed, up from 12 percent in 2004.

  Government statistics this week showed that more than 830,000 young people aged between 15 and 24 are currently unemployed.

• The Prince’s Trust reports that Scotland has seen a 72 percent rise among 18 to 24 year olds claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in the past year.

  Brighton has seen a 66 percent increase and Peterborough 60 percent increase.

  
• The number of jobless graduates is expected to double this year to 40,000. One in ten university leavers is expected to be out of work and many more will take stop-gap work in low paid jobs.
• Fuel poverty is no longer just a “pensioner issue”. Seventeen percent of single-person working households are now also living in fuel poverty.