Jobs recovery fails to boost prospects

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said that between the first and second quarters of the year, more than half a million people got jobs, while 400,000 became unemployed.

The main jobs that people left or joined over the past decade were sales assistant, retail cashier, bar staff and waiters, the study found.

People with degrees were more than twice as likely to move from unemployment to employment than those with no qualifications.

John Philpott, director of The Jobs Economist, said: “The ONS study shows that since the end of the 2008/09 recession the rate at which people move from unemployment to employment each quarter has averaged 22.5 per cent.

“This is far lower than the pre-recession average of above 30 per cent, despite the fact that private sector employment has increased by over 1m in the past three years.

“In other words, the jobs recovery hasn’t improved the chances of unemployed people moving into work.”