A higher unemployment rate means more people are out of work and looking for work, while a fall in the number of job vacancies means there are fewer jobs to compete for.
Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said this was making life “particularly difficult” for young people as the youth unemployment rate has reached 14.7%, its highest since late 2014.
Separate research published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies on Tuesday shows the current fall in youth employment rates is approaching the level of decline seen during the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic.
The IFS data relates to a different time period to the latest jobs and wages data.
It suggests between December 2022 and December 2025, the proportion of 16 to 24-year-olds in payrolled work fell from 54.9% to 50.6%.
Jed Michael, a research economist at the IFS, said the current trend was concerning because “we know that unemployment early in one’s career can have lasting negative consequences”.
Jonathan Townsend, UK chief executive of the The King’s Trust charity, said the IFS’s research indicated that “we cannot simply assume the problem will correct itself as economic conditions improve.
“We urgently need to understand what is pulling more young people away from work and education, including the role of mental health.”
