Unemployment Statistics north-south divide ?

The office of National Statistics in the UK show the average wage for full-time male workers in the North - East fell by 8.2 per cent over the past 12 months – a pay cut of £45 a week. These statistics don't including inflation and rises in the cost of living.

North / South divide - we're all in this together !

Unemployment in the North-East, rose by 6,000 to 148,000 in the three months to the end of March this year, an unemployment rate of 11.5 per cent. The unemployment rate for those aged between 16 and 64 and eligible for work is 11.5% up 1.1% on the previous quarter.

In the UK as a whole, nearly eight million people are now in a part-time job, the highest since records began in 1992, while those working part-time because they cannot find full-time work increased by 73,000 to a record high of 1.4 million.

The Northern region of the Trades Union Congress (TUC) said the figures contrast with the Government’s claim that we are “all in this together”.

Trades Union Congress (TUC) general secretary Brendan Barber said: "the collapse in wages is terrible news for those in work and threatens our chances of an economic recovery.

"The falling number of full-time jobs and the 6% fall in real wages over the last two years means that people are having to make huge salary sacrifices just to stay in work,"

Four other regions in the UK also experienced a rise in unemployment over the same period. The North- East had on average nine unemployed person for each vacancy, compared to three in the South-East.

If you scrutinise the official statistics: the number of people unemployed for more than a year increased by 27,000 to 887,000, the worst total since 1996 - the last Tory government in power.

"It's still women and young people who are bearing the brunt of the recession," said UNISON trade union general secretary Dave Prentis.

In recent years female unemployment has been rising a lot faster than the male total. The latest official figures reinforce the idea that life is tough for female jobseekers.

Respect For the Unemployed & Benefit Claimants don't believe the official statistics to be a true record - there are 1.5 million men out of work, and 1.1 million women, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics. We believe unemployment in the UK is grossly underestimated we believe the figure to be over six million - this is an Inconvenient Truth for the British Tory led government.

Over the year to the first quarter of 2012, the male jobless total was up 78,000, that's a 5.4% increase. But the figure for women was up 92,000, an increase of 9%.

Youth unemployment across the OECD areas (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) has risen alarmingly with nearly 11m 15-24 year olds out of work, according to latest figures.

The statistics published by the OECD, show youth unemployment reached a rate of 17.1% in March 2012, more than double the unemployment rate affecting the general population. Greece and Spain have fared worst with both reporting youth unemployment rates of over 50% of the total youth labour force. The data also shows that at least 23m young people in OECD countries are not in education, employment or training (NEETS).

ref: The Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed EAPN - European Anti Poverty Network Unite the Union