Up to one in 10 men will be unemployed by 2010 as male employment plummets towards a new low, the CIPD has warned.
Official UK unemployment figures are due to be released tomorrow.
The male unemployment rate currently stands at 9%, but is forecast to rise above 10% by the start of 2010 an peak at around 11% – 1.9 million, according to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
The HR industry’s professional body analysed official statistics and found that the number of unemployed men had shot up by almost 50% during the recession.
During the summer the employment rate of men of working age had fallen to 75.8% – the lowest since 1994. In particular, young men and black men had fared the worst.
One in five 18- to 24-year-olds are now unemployed and almost one in five black men are out of work – more than double the unemployment rate for white British men.
Personnel Today reported in July that unemployment had risen to 2.38 million in the three months to May– a record increase of 281,000.
John Philpott, the CIPD’s chief economist, said: “It is likely that the relative position of women will itself deteriorate in the coming decade, as real cuts in public expenditure have an adverse impact on public sector employment.”
“However, it is important to highlight the current plight of men in the labour market, not least because once the impact of recession and a ‘jobs-light’ recovery is fully felt, the proportion of UK men in work will probably have fallen to a record low.”
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