The latest unemployment figures show a continued fall in the number of unemployed people between January and March by 45,000 to 2.63 million people or 8.2%.
Youth unemployment also fell by 17,000 to 1.02 million or an unemployment rate of 21.9%. Liz Field, CEO of the Financial Skills Partnership, commented: “This is encouraging news, as it seems to confirm a continued upward trend in employment. Previous indicators had been that hiring intentions were stronger than they had been for some time in the finance and insurance sectors, and increasing numbers of businesses were complaining about skills gaps, so this should mean more opportunities for jobseekers. However it is still early days, and we shall have to await the longer term trends.“In the meantime there are still many talented and enthusiastic young people seeking employment in today’s competitive jobs market, and many may need help in researching careers and honing their job seeking strategy, in particular equipping themselves with the right kinds of skills and connecting with employers.“The Financial Skills Partnership’s online careers portal Directions is a good place to start researching careers profiles and connecting with employers. Additionally, the new Graduate Foundation College offers a fast-track to employability in the finance sector to unemployed graduates, through its short tailored pre-employment training programme.”
