Unemployment on the rise in Britain

LONDON, March 8 (UPI) -- Experts say recent statistics show the unemployment rate in Britain is quickly becoming a chronic problem throughout the country.

With recent Office for National Statistics figures showing a quarter of Britain's unemployed residents have been without a job for more than a year, experts say the crisis has reached a new high, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday.

The statistics show that in 2007, a total of 392,000 people, or 24.1 percent of the country's jobless population, were unemployed for more than a year.

John Philpott, chief economist for the Institute of Personnel and Development, blamed the trend on a variety of factors, including drug use and a lack of appropriate training or experience.

"The fundamental problem is that you've got a situation in the jobs market where a lot of people are unemployable because they don't have the necessary skills or, for instance, they have drug problems, which makes employers reluctant to take them on," Philpott said.

Experts also have cited the British welfare system for the jobless situation, as well as a lack of appropriate teaching within the country's educational system, the Telegraph said.