Optimism on UK unemployment
Today's unemployment figures showed 2.469 million people were jobless in the UK last month which is a significant improvement on expectations. However, while there is some room for positive sentiment after the release of these figures there are still many people who believe the economy will still struggle for at least another 12 months and unemployment could still top 3 million.
However, on the positive side a number of analysts believe that the worst of the job culls is over although there is no chance of the unemployment figure reducing in the short to medium term. It was also interesting to see that youth unemployment was expected top 1 million last month yet came in at just under 950,000 people. While this figure itself is still disappointing, the very fact that it did not top 1 million has seen many people breathe a sigh of relief. However, with the next batch of school leavers due next year there are concerns that the figure could be boosted unless the economy picks up in the short to medium term.
The Labour government will obviously use these figures to highlight a "recovery in the UK economy" but many believe that this particular sentiment may be a little premature to say the least.
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