High unemployment and record numbers in part-time work 'bad news for young people'

Responding to the latest unemployment figures, which showed almost one million young people out of work and record numbers of people in part-time work*, the union said its analysis of pay showed that young people's pay has, on average, fallen by nearly one-fifth between 2009 and 2012, and the gap between their pay and average pay has widened substantially.

The union said 16 and 17-year-olds were most likely to be in jobs that pay at or around the minimum wage and the proliferation of part-time positions made finding secure well-paid employment even harder.

While weekly wages overall for full-time workers went up between 2009 and 2012 by 3.6%, wages for young people fell by 17.2% - leaving the average weekly wage of 16-17 year olds down from £178.60 to £161.40.

In 2009, the average weekly wage for 16-17 year-olds was 36.6% of the overall weekly average, but by 2012 it had fallen to less than one third of the average at just 31.9%. 
 
The union's analysis also showed that young people are considerably more likely to be paid at below the national minimum wage (NMW). According to the data, an estimated 6.5% of jobs held by 16-17 year-olds were paid below the NMW in 2012, up from 5.7% in 2011.

Across the whole economy the figure was just 1.1% in 2012 (no change from 2011), meaning that young people in work are five times more likely to experience low pay than their older peers.
 
UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, said: 'Politicians might argue about the marginal differences in today's figures, but the bottom line is that we still have around a million young people who can't find work and record levels of people in part-time employment, because there simply are not the jobs out there.

'Our analysis of average pay suggests this is a problem for young people in particular. More than any other group, 16 and 17-year-olds have seen their pay slashed and are more likely to be paid less than the minimum wage. Young people are the unacknowledged victims of the recession and have also faced rocketing tuition fees and the disappearance of college grants.

'Secure, decently paid jobs and proper educational opportunities are critical to solving the crisis of youth inactivity. Research shows that most young people are desperate to work or return to learning. Falling wages and little job security create a spiral of alienation and underachievement.'

Recent research by ComRes showed that the overwhelming majority (88%) of young people not in employment, education or training (the so-called NEETs) want to work or study and over two-thirds (71%) believe they would contribute a lot to society if they got the right support. 

* Today's unemployment figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that almost 1.5 million people were part-time because they could not find full-time jobs, the highest figure since records began in 1992. Youth unemployment remains just below one million, with 958,000 16 to 24-year-olds unemployed.