More spending is answer to youth unemployment problem €“ Christian financial advisers

With unemployment among young people now standing at more than one in five, the Association of Christian Financial Advisers says more spending is needed.

ACFA Chairman Aidan Vaughan said it was “heartbreaking” that unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds in Britain had now reached 21.3%.

Figures out this week from the Office of National Statistics revealed that overall unemployment has risen to its highest since 1994, now standing at 8.1% or 2.57 million people.

Commenting on the worsening figures, Mr Vaughan said: “Things economically continue to be on a downward slope.

“There can never be a halt on all spending. It is the task of government to spend taxpayers’ money where it is needed – and spending is needed now to help young people get into work.”

The economic stagnation is driving more into unemployment, with private companies unable to absorb heavy job losses in the public sector.

The situation is likely to worsen with around 300,000 public sector jobs to go in the next few years.

Prime Minister David Cameron said the latest unemployment figures were “very disappointing”. He confirmed however that the Government had no plans to backtrack on its deficit-cutting measures.

Employment Minister Chris Grayling laid some of the blame for the job situation on wider problems in the global economy.

He told the BBC: “What we’re now seeing, I’m afraid, is the impact of the international financial crisis, the troubles in the euro zone on the economy in this country.”