The figures will no doubt send a gloomy signal to jobhunters who are desperately searching for their next role following redundancy. Any growth we did witness in employment last year has well and truly “fizzled out”, as the Institute for Employment Studies puts it. The number of people out of work for 12 months or more now stands at 836,000, while the unemployment rate for 16 to 24-year-olds is at the highest level since comparable records began.