LOCAL MSP AND MP EXPRESS WORRY OVER LOCAL YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT
Written by author on June 16, 2014
Dumfriesshire MSP Elaine Murray and Dumfries and Galloway MP Russell Brown have expressed their concern that long term youth unemployment in Dumfries and Galloway is showing no improvement.
This comes after the latest unemployment figures were released by the Office of National Statistics (ONS). The local figures has not changed from April to May with 120 local young people (classed as those aged 18-24)still having to claiming job seekers allowance for over 12 months. This is 1.1% of local population and is 0.3% higher than the Scottish and British average of 0.8%. Overall local youth unemployment remains high with 5.3% (590) local young people unemployed. This is 0.5% above the Scottish average of 4.8% and significantly higher than the UK average of 4.3%. Unemployment as a whole shows a decrease from 2535(2.8%) in April to 2375 (2.6%) in May.
Commenting on the figures, Elaine Murray said:
“It is deeply concerning that there has been no improvement in the number of young people who are long term unemployed. They are essentially starting their working lives on job seekers allowance. The fact that the level of youth unemployment locally is still above both the Scottish and UK average highlights the fact that the Scottish and UK Government are still not investing in enough opportunities for young people in our region. ”
Russell Brown said:
“I want to see all local people, especially our young people, in work but I want to ensure that it real work that offers a proper wage and proper hours. The current Government’s attitude of any job will do fails to appreciate that we have real issue in the region when it comes to low pay. The Government should be encouraging employers to pay the living wage, not encouraging local people to accept poor pay and poor terms and conditions.”
