Rising unemployment adds pressure on young people in Suffolk, Citizens Advice warns
The latest figures show unemployment has hit its highest level in nearly five years.
Rising unemployment is adding to financial pressures faced by young people in Suffolk, according to Citizens Advice Ipswich.
The warning comes after the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showed the UK unemployment rate has risen to its highest level in nearly five years.
More on the statistics can be found here.
While Citizens Advice Ipswich does not hold specific regional unemployment figures, the organisation says it is seeing growing challenges linked to insecure work and the cost of living.
Nelleke van Helfteren, Communications Manager at Citizens Advice Ipswich, said many young people are struggling with unstable employment.
“I would say that many of our young clients have significant problems due to insecure employment, as well as the difficulty of getting work and the costs that go along with work, such as travel expenses or even high rents if they need to move away from where they’re living or from the family home,” she said.
She said insecure working arrangements, including zero-hours contracts, can make it difficult for people to manage their finances.
“It may be that you’re on a zero hours contract or a reduced hours contract, and we see people whose hours are not what they expected, and so their lifestyle has to change because of that,” she said.
“It’s very easy to slip into unemployment from a zero-hours contract without even noticing it somehow.”
According to the ONS, unemployment across the UK has risen in recent months, with young people among those most affected by a slowdown in hiring.
Ms van Helfteren said financial pressures are often compounded by everyday spending habits, which can build up over time.
“I think it’s very simple to think, ‘oh, well, that’s fine, because that’s only X pounds a month’. But X pounds a month, every month, over a period of time, turns into a lot of money,” she said.
She encouraged people to become more aware of their spending, suggesting simple steps such as tracking expenses.
“The minute you start to write down what you’re spending money on, it changes the way you spend money,” she said.
“I would suggest that you keep a log of what you spend your money on for a week and I can guarantee by the end of that week, you’ll be spending less money because you’ll be surprised.”
Citizens Advice is also urging people not to struggle alone if they are facing financial difficulties.
“Don’t worry alone, go and get some help,” Ms van Helfteren said.
“There’s many people out there that will help you and most importantly, never pay for debt advice.”
The charity says early advice can help prevent people from falling into more serious financial difficulty as economic pressures continue.