{"id":60187,"date":"2026-04-21T12:39:13","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/?p=60187"},"modified":"2026-04-21T12:39:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T12:39:16","slug":"university-students-contribute-to-surprise-fall-in-unemployment-figures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/04\/21\/university-students-contribute-to-surprise-fall-in-unemployment-figures\/","title":{"rendered":"University Students contribute to surprise fall in unemployment figures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Fewer students are job- seeking, which has contributed to an unexpected fall in unemployment rate, according to a new study.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Unemployment fell to 4.9% this morning  &#8211; despite Office for National Statistics (ONS) predictions that unemployment would remain at 5.2%.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reports show that the number of&nbsp; university students who are looking for work alongside their studies has fallen. These students, who are not actively seeking employment, are therefore not counted in unemployment figures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rushath Gamag, an Economics and finance student at the University of Sheffield said: \u201cI have important exams, I just don\u2019t have time this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But despite the number falling nationally, many Sheffield students are searching for part-time jobs alongside their studies, often in the hospitality or retail sector.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Luca Min, a first year student, who was successful in an application to a food court said: \u201c It wasn\u2019t the first job I applied for, I applied to quite a few places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s hard for students to get a job in Sheffield.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hamish Walker, an economics student, agrees. He said: \u201cThere is a lot of competition for student part time jobs in the university area of the city.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI look for jobs but I either can\u2019t find one I can commute to or I find one and then get rejected.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Matilda Hunter, a first year politics and International Relations student, said: \u201cA weekly email comes from the University with part time jobs you can apply for, but they are often far away, sometimes even as far as meadowhall.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cI need the money as my parents aren\u2019t supporting me financially so I have to fund my cost of living.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In Chancellor Rachel Reeves\u2019 budget last autumn she announced a rise in the national minimum wage which came into effect on April 1st this year.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The hourly rate for 18-20 year-olds rose by 85p, whilst workers over the age of 21 saw an hourly increase of 50p.<br>The University of Sheffield has a dedicated service which helps students find casual jobs that are flexible around studying. To find out more visit:<a href=\"https:\/\/www.myjobshop.shef.ac.uk\/\">Welcome to myJobshop &#8211; University Of Sheffield<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fewer students are job- seeking, which has contributed to an unexpected fall in unemployment rate, according to a new study. Unemployment fell to 4.9% this morning &#8211; despite Office for National Statistics (ONS) predictions that unemployment would remain at 5.2%.\u00a0 Reports show that the number of&nbsp; university students who are looking for work alongside their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341,"featured_media":59414,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[636,5,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-news","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60187","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60187"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60187\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60190,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60187\/revisions\/60190"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60187"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60187"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60187"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}