Youth Unemployment drops by nearly a third in Wales – overall growth lags behind rest of UK

Youth unemployment in Wales is down by 1,100 over the last month and down by almost a third over the year, according to official figures published by the Office for Nationals statistics today -13 May 

Employment increased by 5,000 over the last quarter with today’s figures showing 1.38million people now in work in Wales.

Overall unemployment has fallen by 1,000 over the past year.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in Wales fell by 600 in the last month and by almost 17,000 over the year – the 25th consecutive monthly fall and the lowest level for nearly 7 years.

Secretary of State for Wales Stephen Crabb said:

“These very encouraging figures show that we are driving forward a recovery that people across all parts of Wales can share in.

I am pleased that overall employment is increasing and the huge fall in youth unemployment is especially good news

We are creating more opportunities for young people to benefit from training or gain an apprenticeship and ultimately the security of a regular wage

I want everyone in Wales to feel the benefits of this economic recovery and today’s figures show that we are making real progress.”

Despite the positive noise about youth unemployment from Mr Crabb, Wales is still lagging behind the rest of the UK in terms jobs growth, it is the only UK region to see a decrease year on year (-0.4%) in the employment rate.

Unemployment rates by region, January to March 2015.

The unemployment rate for people aged 16 and over for the UK was 5.5%, for the period January 2015 to March 2015.
The regions with the highest unemployment rate in Great Britain were the North East, at 7.5%, followed by Wales, at 6.7% and Yorkshire and The Humber, at 6.6%. The regions with the lowest rate were the South East, at 4.2%, followed by the South West, at 4.3%.
The overall UK rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points.