BARNSLEY has been identified as a youth unemployment blackspot in a new report which claims the government's attempts to tackle youth unemployment have failed.
An investigation by think-tank The Work Foundation discovered that despite the economic recovery, joblessness among 16 to 24-year-olds was more than 25 per cent in Barnsley.
The Work Foundation said youngsters leaving school with only GCSEs were more than twice as likely to be unemployed as those with better qualifications.
It called for action to improve apprenticeships, more work experience placements and better careers advice.
It states: "Rates of youth unemployment are very high in towns and cities which previously relied on traditional industries for jobs and growth, many of which have seen large reductions in employment."
Council leader Sir Steve Houghton said: "We have some of the best performance figures for 16 to 18-year-olds but then they fall into this unemployment. We've got a lot of work to do in the long term to address youth unemployment.
"Barnsley is not the strongest economy in the world and if the jobs are not there, the jobs are not there but I want to ensure everything is being done that can be done."
