- Published
Young black people have been hardest hit by unemployment during the pandemic, new research indicates.
Over the past year, the UK jobless rate for young black people rose by more than a third to 35%, the Resolution Foundation think tank said.
That compared with a rate of 24% for young people of Asian descent and a rate of 13% for young white people, both up three percentage points.
The foundation said Covid had widened existing gaps between ethnic groups.
It added that young people in general had borne the brunt of job losses in lockdown, because they disproportionately worked in sectors hit by the crisis, such as hospitality and leisure.
At the height of the pandemic last year, between the second and third quarters of 2020, the unemployment rate among 18 to 24-year-olds rose from 11.5% to 13.6%, the foundation said.
This was the largest quarter-on-quarter rise among this age group since 1992.
Kickstart call
"The rise in youth unemployment is not just about those losing their jobs, but also about young people not finding work in the first place," the foundation added.
"Those who left education just before or during the crisis - the so-called class of 2020 - have faced particular difficulties, with unemployment rising fastest among those who recently left education.
"Having a degree has not protected recent graduates from this effect."
But here too, there is a big disparity between ethnic groups.
By the end of last year, unemployment among young black graduates had risen to 34%, up from 22% before the pandemic.
That was a rate almost three times that of young white graduates during the same period (13%). The unemployment rate for young Asian graduates during this period was 24%.
The Foundation called for the government's £2bn Kickstart youth jobs scheme to be expanded and extended to protect young people from the impact of long-term unemployment.
It also urged special efforts to ensure that young people from hard-hit ethnic backgrounds had access to the scheme, alongside access to quality education and training options, and, where needed, financial support for full-time study.
Kathleen Henehan, a senior research and policy analyst at the Resolution Foundation, said: "The furlough scheme has done a fantastic job of minimising job losses amidst unprecedented shutdowns of our economy.
"But young people have still experienced a sharp rise in unemployment during the Covid-19 crisis - with recent education-leavers and young black people being hardest hit.
"This pandemic has created a highly generationally unequal unemployment surge and widened pre-existing gaps between different ethnic groups.
"Young people have sacrificed their livelihoods in order to save the lives of others from Covid-19, and putting their careers back on track must be a priority for government in the months and years ahead."
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from Via PakapNews