Portsmouth sees alarming rise in unemployment with more than 10,000 people out of work

Figures provided from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) confirmed there are currently 10,640 people in the Portsmouth City Council area claiming benefits compared to 6439 at the same time last year – a 153 per cent increase.

DWP senior partnership leader, Lynne Grimes, said: ‘We have seen a large increase in the number of people made redundant during the pandemic.

‘Things did start to improve at the start of September after the end of the first lockdown but we are now back to square one.’

The biggest rise was in the 18 to 24 age range where there are 1902 claimants compared to 642 last year – a 196 per cent increase.

Lynne added: ‘This is a worrying trend for young people as they are likely to be out of work for longer.

‘Those first few years in a first job are those formative years of employment when young people are developing those key skills. This results in many people earning the minimum wage until their mid-twenties.’

To help get young people back into work the government has introduced the Kickstart scheme where employers are subsidised to take on a young person on a work placement for six months at 25 hours or more per week.

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