Rise in youth jobless figures

Jim Murphy MP and Ken Macintosh MSP have expressed concerns as figures show long term unemployment numbers — those without a job for over a year — have grown by 24 per cent.

There are now 285 people across East Renfrewshire who have been claiming job seeker’s allowance for over a 
year.

The politicians also revealed that around a third of all job seekers in the area — over 400 — are under 25.

Jim Murphy told The Extra: “These figures d show that far too many local people are being left behind. There are too many people in East Renfrewshire unemployed for far too long.

“We have a UK gGovernment that doesn’t seem to care enough and athe Scottish gGovernment that is too distracted by their independence plans to do enough to help the unemployed find work.”

Ken Macintosh said: “All families are feeling the effect of this recession on their income, but the number of young people drifting into long term unemployment could scar a whole new generation.

“We seem to be caught between two governments pursuing the wrong agenda with neither doing enough to boost the economy and create jobs.”

Recent statistics show long-term youth unemployment is up to almost 7,000 in Scotland.

However, SNP man Stewart Maxwell — MSP for the west of Scotland — responded: “The government has continued to tackle unemployment and the Scottish unemployment rate has now fallen to 7.3% — significantly lower than the UK as a whole.

“Youth unemployment too has decreased in the previous year to 16.1%, lower than the UK rate of 20.1%.

“Schools in East Renfrewshire are now amongst the best in Scotland for leavers moving on to training schemes, employment or college or university.

“Our young people deserve more than to be treated merely as an economic statistic.”