Denise Hatton, Chief Executive of YMCA England, the national council of YMCAs across England and Wales, has welcomed the news that youth unemployment for 16 to 24-year-olds has fallen for the second quarter in a row.
She said: “We know at YMCA that gaining meaningful and sustained employment is an essential recovery aspect for many of the young people who enter our services.
“As such, it is encouraging to see that youth unemployment has fallen by 31,000 in the last quarter, continuing the trend we have seen over the past six months. This is a reflection of what we have long believed – that young people want to work and want to contribute to their communities.
“However, it must be noted that youth unemployment has only just fallen below pre-recession levels and that more still needs to be done to ensure that those young people who enter the workplace stay there and flourish.
“That is why we continue to work with politicians and ministers to ensure that the correct policies are put in place over 2016 and beyond to help young people more easily access the right jobs for them and to remain employed in the long-term.”
Stats courtesy of Office for National Statistics