Young people in the UK appear to be bearing the brunt of the troubled picture in the job market at the moment. The latest statistics have revealed that 118,000 more people overall became unemployed in the quarter leading up to November 2011. However, the number of young people without a job stayed over the one million mark, reaching 1.04 million in the same period.

The highest ever rate of unemployment among young people

Disappointingly these figures are the highest that unemployment has even been among 16-24 year olds since records were first kept. According to statistics some 52,000 young people became unemployed during this quarter. This represents an increase of more than 100% since the same period in 2010.

However the deputy director of the CBI, Dr Neil Bentley, has stated that the jobs market can be improved if more focus and attention is given to how young people are prepared for starting work. More specialist support in this area could also be useful in brightening up the long term picture of recruitment among young people in the UK. He called the latest unemployment figures “particularly worrying for young people.”

Part time jobs become more prevalent 

Another key statistic revealed in the latest round of statistics is that there are 75,000 more people working part time than there were in the previous three months. This brings the total of part timers to 1.3 million. This is the highest number of part timers in the labour market for 20 years.

What does the future hold for 16-24 year olds?

Let’s not forget that many people are finding it hard to get work at the moment. But it is the younger age group, looking to enter work for the first time in many cases, which is experiencing particular trouble and hardship. While some companies are still recruiting, some positions are being chased by dozens of people at a time. However determined they are to find work, many find it depressing to come up against so much competition on a regular basis.

It has been predicted that unemployment is set to rise even higher. Gloomy predictions of as many as 3 million people out of work have been mooted. Hopefully this will not turn out to be true, but we can only wait and see what effect another rise in unemployment would have on young people.

David Lyons, MD at eBoss  , says: “Companies should look for ways to beef up employment opportunities in their local area and in using the technologies that young people are familier with for recruitment, such as facebook and twitter