London, March 11 (IANS): More than half of young black men in Britain wanting work are unemployed and are twice as likely to be jobless as their white counterparts, according to new government statistics.

Figures provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that in the last quarter of 2011, unemployment among black 16 to 24-year-olds stood at around 56 percent, almost double the 29 percent in the same quarter of 2008, the Independent reported.

Unemployment rates for young black men and women combined at the end of 2011 was 47 percent, up from around 29 percent three years ago.

In contrast, for whites in the same age group, it rose from 15 percent in 2008 to around 21 percent in 2011.

Iqbal Wahhab, chairman of the ethnic minority advisory group at the Department for Work and Pensions said ministers need to do more to deal with the high unemployment rates among young black men.

About 27 percent of young Asian men of the same age group are currently unemployed compared to 24 percent of white men and 22 percent of mixed race men, the Daily Mail reported.

The Department for Work and Pensions said it would be spending one billion pounds over the next three years to help young people find jobs by creating half a million opportunities through work experience and apprenticeships.

"We have introduced a number of measures designed to give all young people the right skills and experience to match them to vacancies," it said in a statement.