By Paul Dicken
05 June 2009
Almost half of jobless people in Wales are under 25, with the recent rise in unemployment ‘disproportionately’ affecting certain areas of the country, a think-tank has said.
Monitoring poverty and social exclusion in Wales 2009, by the New Policy Institute for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, looked at trends in poverty statistics over the past ten years.
It showed that the number of people claiming Jobseekers Allowance doubled over the 12 months to March 2009.
Six South Wales Valley local authorities, along with Newport and Bridgend, have the highest proportion of claimants. Blaenau Gwent has the highest rate of any authority in the UK.
Co-author of the report Peter Kenway said the most significant aspect of the recession was the high level of unemployment among young adults.
‘If this situation persists, the risk may be of a new generation lacking experience, qualifications and self-belief,’ he said.
The June 3 report said that some of the gains made in reducing child poverty had been lost. In Wales the average proportion of children in poverty was 36% in 1998/99 and dipped to 28.5% in 2005/06. Latest figures for 2007/08 show an increase to 32%.
Assembly Member Gareth Jones, chair of the enterprise and learning committee, told Public Finance that the report was ‘worrying’.
He added: ‘More needs to be done to ensure the younger element of our population are properly skilled and given proper support.’
