Young Adult Unemployment

Key points

  • At 23%, Inner London has the highest rate of young adult unemployment in England.
  • In 2009, the young adult unemployment rate was higher everywhere than it had been ten years previously.
  • During the last decade, Outer London has seen a bigger increase in young adult unemployment than any other English region

Unemployment among 16-24 year olds, over time

What does this graph show?

The figures illustrate the unemployment rate among young adults - aged 16 to 24 - as a proportion of the economically active (those in paid work or officially unemployed).
At 23%, Inner London has the highest rate of young adult unemployment of any region in England over the period 2007-09. Outer London has the fourth highest rate, at 19%, after the North East, West Midlands and Inner London, although the rise in Outer London is bigger than any other region.

The overall figure for London is 21%.

This indicator looks much different to the one we included in the original report because it covers a different 10 year period, 1997 to 2007. Young adult unemployment actually came down significantly everywhere between 1997 and 1999, but much less so thereafter.

Add to this the effects of the recession, and the recent rises in young adult unemployment, and what was previously a story of decreasing rates everywhere now becomes one of rising rates. This is of particular concern in Inner London, where the young adult unemployment rate was high in any case.

Data used

Labour Force Survey, ONS

Indicator last updated: 21 April 2010

Other indicators in Working-age adults

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Glossary

Unemployed:

Someone wanting and actively seeking work who is available to start a full-time job straightaway

Outer London:

Barking & Dagenham, Barnet, Bromley, Bexley, Brent, Croydon, Ealing, Enfield, Greenwich, Harrow, Havering, Hillingdon, Hounslow, Kingston upon Thames, Merton, Redbridge, Richmond upon Thames, Sutton, Waltham Forest

Inner London:

Camden, Hackney, Hammersmith & Fulham, Haringey, Islington, Kensington & Chelsea, Lambeth, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark, Tower Hamlets, Wandsworth, Westminster

Read all glossary definitions

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