UNEMPLOYMENT HAS soared by 49,000 to 2.5 million, with a record number of young people out of work, new figures showed today.

One in five 16 to 24-year-olds are jobless after a rise of 32,000 in the quarter to November to 951,000, the highest figure since records began in 1992.

Employment levels have fallen, redundancies have increased and the number of people classed as economically inactive has reached 9.3 million, today’s grim figures revealed. Nationally the number on Jobseeker’s allowance fell in December

But the figures rose slightly in both the Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin local authorities.

The figure increased in the Shropshire area to 4,608, up from 4,502, meaning that 2.6 per cent of the working population of the area is now out of work.

And in Telford & Wrekin Council’s area, the number on Jobseeker’s Allowance rose from 3,824 in November to 3,980 last month, representing 3.8 per cent of the working population.

The only bright news from the Office for National Statistics nationally was a 4,100 fall in the number of people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance last month.

The unemployment rate is now 7.9 per cent, but for 16 to 24-year-olds it is 20.3 per cent.

There were 157,000 redundancies in the latest quarter, up by 14,000 on the previous three months.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling said: “These figures serve to underline the scale of the challenge we face. We are already seeing some improvement in the number of vacancies in the economy.

“More personalised support for jobseekers will be on offer through Jobcentre Plus and for the long-term unemployed who need extra help we are introducing our Work Programme in the summer, which will offer support tailored to individuals’ needs so that they can get into jobs and stay there.”

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: “Today’s grim jobless figures show that rising unemployment is more than an autumn blip and that it could get much worse in 2011.

“With more than a fifth of young people out of work, we face a real danger of losing another generation of young people to unemployment and wasted ambition.”

By Business Editor Thom Kennedy