Youth jobless breaks through million mark

Youth unemployment is expected to have topped a million last month amid a rise in the total jobless figure for July of 250,000 to 2.5 million. Economists say that the only consolation from the figures that are due out on Wednesday is that the growth rate of unemployment is slowing. In June almost a million young people were out of work after the biggest increase in unemployment since Labour came to power.Youth unemployment soared to a 16-year high, with 17.3 per cent of those aged 18 to 24 without a job — up from 15 per cent in February. Almost a third of those aged between 16 and 17 who left school after GCSEs are also out of work. Unemployment among the young is set to rise over the summer months as a new generation of school-leavers and graduates struggle to find work. Total unemployment is forecast to continue rising to a peak of three million next year.