I fear this might be the case too. The Wolf report last year highlighted the 'collapse of the youth labour market'.

In 1974, 74% of 18 year olds were in work (17% in education/training)
In 2009, 40% of 18 year olds were in work (40% in education/training)

Thats why the figures today are generally quoted as the "ILO unemployment rate" which is the unemployment rate as defined by the International Labour Organisation, so that you can have more transparent comparisons from country to country and from year to year.

Here's a graph of the ILO defined unemployment rate in the UK:

Damo-Leeds wrote:Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs ... -high.html. But no we just have this sorry excuse of a policy. what's your excuse for still being unemployed?

Damo-Leeds wrote:Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs ... -high.html. But no we just have this sorry excuse of a policy. what's your excuse for still being unemployed?

There are 2,667,999 people more employable, lets worry about getting the close on 2m people who want to work back in jobs, worry about the shirkers later.

World of Redboy wrote:what's your excuse for still being unemployed? BG summed it up perfectly with regards to the 2million+ long queue in front of me that are more employable than myself in the entry level jobs that are available. However him implying that I'm a shirker is an absolute insult when I do voluntary work. Perhaps he thinks along the same lines as Jan Moir and Vanessa Feltz when it comes to criticising the long term unemployed.

World of Redboy wrote:what's your excuse for still being unemployed? BG summed it up perfectly with regards to the 2million+ long queue in front of me that are more employable than myself in the entry level jobs that are available. However him implying that I'm a shirker is an absolute insult when I do voluntary work. Perhaps he thinks along the same lines as Jan Moir and Vanessa Feltz when it comes to criticising the long term unemployed.

The current figures show that there are 2.68 million unemployed and 463000 vacancies, which means 5.79 unemployed people for every vacancy. There is always a 'churn' of jobs so there will be vacancies at any one time but the number of vacancies illustrates how vibrant or stagnant the job market is, and ultimately until that vacancy number starts to rise, you won't get people back into work no matter what incentives you give them in terms of benefits etc.

It's a bit like saying you want more Super League clubs to get into the playoffs. You could put incentives like cutting the Sky funding for any club that finishes outside the top 8, it might make the competition more fierce, but you aren't going to get any more clubs into the top 8, there will still be 6 that finish outside it.

When unemployment is this high then the talk about the feckless and long term shirkers is futile as they are right down the bottom of the list for employers. There are a lot of employable people that have been made redundant and are looking hard for work, who are the most likely to be got back into work when the amount of job creation improves, but solving unemployment at this level comes down to job creation rather than incentives to work. It's not like there are a load of employers that can't find work for minimum wage jobs.

One thing I often hear from the "private sector is superior" types is that although they want the entire public sector to be cut, so that public sector workers are forced to get a "proper job" in the "productive sector" like them, they will also tell you that THEY would never employ an ex public sector worker in a million years, because they don't have the right work ethic, they also wouldn't employ anybody that had been out of work for more than 6 months, or any graduate from an ex-poly, so you can see why a lot of people are considered well down the list in employment terms.

My daughters friend was unemployed 2 weeks ago. I spent 2 evenings and a few hours over the weekend scanning the PC for jobs in the area-He had no quals of note
2 days ago he started working at a warehouse full time-Not great but a start and as we know its easier to get work when you are working. It's also money in his pocket.

Damo- You lack determination and the willingness to work. Have you knocked on every business door in a 10 mile radius of your wa***ng chariot and asked if they have any vacancies. Get of your fat butt and get pro-active. There is somethng there if you look-It wont come to you.

These anecdotes of "I know someone that was unemployed and they found a job" don't prove anything - the facts are there are loads of people out of work who are trying hard to get jobs and can't get them.

Knocking on business doors isn't going to get Damo a job, they will tell him to f off, I wonder how many people on rlfans would offer Damo a job, or would their businesses offer him a job? The answer will be no there aren't any vacancies, or if there are, then he should apply like the other 100 odd people that have put in for them.

I offered Damo full time work - he declined end of.

My cousin managed to find work in Rhyl which is one of the worse areas in the UK to find work. They’ll always be success stories of people getting into employment when so many people are trying. You put one thousand unemployed people into a room and the probability is that some of them will get a job if you sent them all on a task looking for one. But in this current jobs market many of them would more than likely remain unemployed. It’s just simple maths.

Now they was a time when I did knock on every door in the area and passed my CV on. But after a while (probably in my second year of unemployment) I though f**k this because no ones giving me a break and I didn’t want to spend a lifetime applying for loads of jobs every week. So these days I apply for jobs when I feel like it whilst doing some voluntary work.

And sal you didn’t offer me a straight out job. It was a job opportunity like any other job opening out they.