The TUC union has claimed that employment levels are less healthy than the government would have us believe, and has warned against raising interest rates too early.
Ahead of the publication of official jobs figures from the Office of National Statistics this week, the TUC published its analysis of figures from January to March 2014, comparing them with the January to March 2008.
It found that, in many areas, there was a significant gap between the number of people who were unemployed before the recession and after – Yorkshire and Humberside had the biggest gap, with almost 100,000 more unemployed people today than before the recession.
Northern Ireland had the biggest gap between its current and pre-recession unemployment rates. Across Northern Ireland, unemployment is currently at 6.9%, compared to 4.1% six years ago.
The TUC found that the widest unemployment gap by age group was among young people, with the number of unemployed 16-24 year olds 167,000 higher than six years ago.
The TUC warned that it “remains far too early” for the Bank of England to be considering an interest rate rise. The Governor of the Bank of England has said that if the unemployment rate falls below 7%, this could trigger an increase in interest rates.
TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Those hawks that are keen for interest rates to rise have forgotten that unemployment is still over two million.”
“The talk in the City and around Westminster may be about a fast growing economy but the recovery still feels a good way off for millions of people still desperate for work across the rest of the country.”
“The government should be doing more to get unemployment down in every part of the UK. High levels of youth joblessness are particularly concerning. The growing talk of an interest rise is a worrying distraction from this far bigger economic and social problem.”