| 17 people chasing every job in Tooting |
| Wednesday, 19 October 2011 16:15 |
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Sadiq Khan MP has hit out at the government’s failure to tackle unemployment, as new stats show that youth unemployment has rocketed by over 10% in the last 12 months. Nationally unemployment is now at its highest point since 1994, and youth unemployment is at an all time high of 991,000. In Tooting unemployment is up for all ages in Tooting, with 17 job seekers chasing every vacancy. Women’s unemployment is now 1,069,000 – the highest it has been since 1988 when it peaked at 1,083,000, and has risen by 44,000 in the last quarter. This comes at a time when the Tory-led government has scrapped the Educational Maintenance Allowance, which encouraged young people to stay in further education beyond 16, scrapped the Future Jobs Fund, cut funding for Tooting Connexions, cut further and higher education funding and increased tuition fees, sentencing thousands of young people in Tooting to a grim future with few options in the way of training or education. Cuts to health services are also hitting the area’s largest employers – St George’s Hospital – which has been forced to cut 10% of its workforce. “Far from taking steps to tackle youth unemployment, things are getting worse, with a 10% increase over the last year. “We have so many talented young people locally. But with jobs hard to come by and the government removing support for staying in education, too many of them are facing a difficult future.”
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