Youth unemployment continues to rise in Mid Sussex

In statistics released by the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday (March 16) the amount of people, aged between 18 and 24, searching for work in the district increased by more than 16 per cent between January and February this year.

In January 65 youngsters were reported to be out of work, an 18 per cent rise on December 2015.

February saw the number grow again to 75 leading to an 18 per cent increase over the two month period and a seven per cent rise over the past year (February 2015 to February 2016).

In total around 415 people of all ages were out of work in Mid Sussex in February.

The figure shows a three per cent increase over the past month but an annual drop of around 13 per cent.

Simon Hobday, relationship manager at the Jobcentre Plus, said the centre had seen a slight rise in unemployment figures across the county due to temporary Christmas staff being kept on for longer and coming onto the register late.

He said: “The percentages don’t look very good but at the moment I don’t think there is cause for concern.

“The figures are relatively low so it distorts the percentages for the area.

“It will be best to look at it again next month and we can see whether there is a trend emerging (in Mid Sussex) or not.”

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