The Conservatives tell a different story, however. They claim that more than a million young people are not in employment, education or training.
And the number of economically inactive 18- to 24-year-olds is now 22 per cent higher than it was before Labour came to power in 1997.
So who is telling the truth? Paul Bivand, head of analysis and statistics at the Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion, says it depends how the figures are interpreted. "To say Labour has eradicated youth unemployment is stretching a point, but it does have a case," he says. "What they are saying is that they have eradicated the long-term youth jobseeker's allowance claimant count. Yet there has been a noticeable rise in the number of unemployed young people in the past few months."
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