UK unemployment | a visual guide

Hello and welcome to Small Mod Cons.  SMC started off a quarterly photocopied 'zine looking at economic trends. We've now progressed to the web-o-sphere with this blog where we aim to do more of the same on a regular basis. For this first post we are taking a look, literally, at the current UK unemployment situation, with some nice graphs to break it down visually.

The UK unemployment rate currently stands at 8.1%, the highest level for over 15 years. You can see how most of the increase happened in 2009 but recently we have taken another upturn, suggesting a rising trend in unemployment. This graph shows that we stand somewhere in the middle of our European neighbours but we could soon be heading into a similar zone to that of the more troubled EU members.

The graph below shows how a slide in job vacancies has coincided with rising unemployment (a sure sign of a shrinking economy), leading to a ratio of 5.6 unemployed people for every job vacancy.

 Here's a visual representation of the age distribution of the unemployed section of the UK population.

This chart shows the differing unemployment rates between 16-24 yr olds and the general population. The problem is 2.6 times as acute for young people. It seems the job market is in a similar situation to the housing market, with a lack of opportunity for first time entrants.

 

All data is from the Office of National Statistics Oct 2011 statistical bulletin. If there are other aspects of the UK unemployment situation you would like to see visually represented, please contact us, as we do requests!