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Gloucestershire Business News

Youth unemployment in Gloucestershire jumps more than 20 per cent

Unemployment rates in Gloucestershire have risen significantly faster than the South West and the UK as a whole with rises in one area as high as 30 per cent.

Rates for young people - those aged 18 to 24 - rose by 21.8 per cent on the previous year across the county, with rises of as high as 30 per cent (96 people) in Gloucester and 27 per cent (24 people) in the Cotswolds.

It means the number of young people out of work increased by 212 per cent on May 2018 - making the total this year 1,291.

Cheltenham saw the rate increase by 18 per cent, an increase of 40 to 261, Tewkesbury saw figures rise 13 per cent (15 to 133) and the Forest of Dean saw a rise of 21 per cent (37, to 214).

Only Stroud district saw a fall - one per cent - with one fewer young person out of work, taking the total to 214.

In the South West figures rose too, but by a relatively smaller 11 per cent, and across Britain by nine per cent.

Putting age aside, the total number of people claiming unemployment benefit across Gloucestershire as of May 2019 rose 9.2 per cent (1,291) on the previous year (550 more claimants) to 7,817.

The highest rise was in Cheltenham, which saw a 13 per cent increase (up 174 to 1,510), followed by Cotswold district (11 per cent - up 83 to 819), Tewkesbury (10 per cent - up 82 to 932), the Forest of Dean (four per cent - up 47 to 1,145).

Again, only Stroud saw a decrease - which statistically comes out at zero per cent, but saw three fewer people on the claimant count (totalling 1,079).

Of course, rises and falls in the labour market all depend where you start the clock. Over a five year period the figures show significant falls in all areas.

There have been falls of 45 per cent for young people in Gloucester, 40 per cent in Cheltenham, 56 per cent in Tewkesbury, 54 per cent in Stroud, 24 per cent in the Forest of Dean and 27 per cent in the Cotswolds.

When taking age out of the equation, the figures still fell significantly on the five year comparison.

Picture credit: Imagery ©2018 Google maps, Map data ©2018 Google

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