Gloom As Unemployment Set To Rise Again

New figures due out from the Office for National Statistics are expected to show an increase in unemployment for the eighth month in a row.

The Institute for Public Policy Research said it is three years since unemployment broke through the two million mark.

Their analysis shows that unemployment has gone up by a million since the recession began.

Overall, 857,000 people have been unemployed for more than a year.

More than a million young people, aged between 16 and 24, are now jobless - the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992 and a rise of 51,000 from the last quarter.

Unemployment among women has also reached the highest point in 23 years.

A recent survey by research group Centre for Cities showed that areas with smaller numbers of knowledge workers, lower qualifications and a reliance on public sector employment will be the most vulnerable to rises in unemployment in 2012.

It highlighted Newport, Swansea, Doncaster, Hull and Sunderland as likely to struggle the most.

Dr Jonathan Deacon, of the University of Wales, said: "The future for cities like Newport is not looking particularly good.

"We're very vulnerable and not resilient to change. We have the legacy of industrialisation that's kind of gone and a heavy reliance on the public sector, which is coming under pressure like it's never done before, and it ain't going to get any better."

Ben Rapier, who works at the Newport Passport Office, says the decline of the public sector in the city has been hard.

"We're going from a workforce of 290 to 138," he said.

"It's obviously been a depressing time. For people working here there is a real period of uncertainty about their jobs and also for the future as well."

Although the coalition has had some cause for celebration this week with inflation falling and one forecast saying Britain should avoid a double dip, the latest figures are expected to show unemployment continued to grow in December after hitting 2.68 million in November.