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Young people hit as unemployment rate rises

The UK unemployment rate has risen to its highest level for almost two years, official figures show.

The unemployment rate grew to 4.1% in the three months to July, compared with 3.9% previously.

Young people were particularly hard-hit, with those aged 16 to 24 suffering the biggest drop in employment compared with other age groups.

Firms continue to remove staff from payrolls as they prepared for the end of the government’s furlough scheme.

The number of young people in the UK without a job rose 156,000 in the three months to July, according to new data.

Some 695,000 UK workers have disappeared from the payrolls of British companies since March, when the coronavirus lockdown began.

The government’s Job Retention Scheme will begin tapering off next month before ending on 31 October.

ONS director of economic statistics Darren Morgan said that there had been some signs that the economy “reopened” in July as the likes of restaurants, pubs and hairdressers were allowed to trade again.

“Nonetheless, with the number of employees on the payroll down again in August and both unemployment and redundancies sharply up in July, it is clear that coronavirus is still having a big impact on the world of work,” he said. (BBC)

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