The really difficult aspect of unemployment

People become unemployed for a number of reasons. Their industry declines, their firm is competed out of the market, or labour saving technology reducing the need for workers are all possible causes. A general fall in demand, such as in a recession, means all firms require fewer workers. The result is cyclical or structural unemployment.

Cyclical unemployment is short lived, structural unemployment is less easy to deal with and older workers in particular may find themselves out of work for prolonged periods. But there is one group who don't have to lose their jobs to become unemployed; the new entrants to the work force.

Youth unemployment is very difficult to solve and, because each year of high unemployment adds another cohort of new job seekers to the stock of those who have never worked, gets worse and worse. As one commentator notes in the linked article:

"For a young person, being out of education, employment or training can have major ramifications, including long-term reductions in wages and increased chances of unemployment later in life, as well as social or psychological problems arising as a result of sustained unemployment." 

Once a recession is over employers have the choice of new jobseekers or those who have been unemployed for some time. Fearing that those who have had long periods of enforced idleness may have been 'unemployed for a reason', or will have lost the work ethic,  firms will usually opt to employ more recent school leavers and graduates. This leaves the economy with a large group of long term unemployed who are 'detached from the workforce'.

Only supply-side policies, such as increased training provision, can deal with this problem but it does so very slowly. To make matters worse the problem is concentrated in some areas, because a higher proportion of new jobseekers failed to find work in those places in successive years.

The BBC report highlights this problem and identifies the worst affected areas. For you the lesson is that you must achieve the highest possible qualifications from the best universities in order prove to employers you are the person to hire.

The BBC report is here