Joblessness up 933% in one area

YOUTH UNEMPLOYMENT has soared by more than 900% in a year in one area of Fife.

The shocking news has caused Fife MP Lindsay Roy to call for “drastic action” to be taken to halt what he calls the “staggering rise” in long-term unemployment.

The Glenrothes and Central Fife MP said: “We are in grave danger of having a whole generation out of work and both the UK and the Scottish Governments must act now to stop this worrying situation.

“These youngsters are supposed to be the workforce of the future but how are they to find jobs if they cannot get the experience they need now?”

Official figures reveal that the number of people aged between 18 and 24 who have been claiming Jobseeker’s allowance for 12 months or more leapt from just 15 in April 2011 to 155 last month — a rise of 933%.

That is by far the biggest increase in the region.

The north-east Fife seat saw a rise of 30 to 35, Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath jumped from 30 to 145 and Dunfermline and west Fife went up from 35 to 120.

Mr Roy added: “My constituency has gone from being one of the best in terms of the number of young people in Fife without a job for more than a year to the worst, and that’s a very unhappy situation.

“Clearly the policies of the Tory-lib Dem coalition at Westminster and the SNP administration at Holyrood aren’t working. The figures don’t lie.”

The MP said that Labour’s five-point plan for jobs and growth — including a £2 billion tax on bank bonuses to fund a real jobs guarantee and reversing the rise IN VAT — was the only realistic way of addressing the problem.