Unemployment rises to 11-year high

by Catherine Woods - Wednesday, 12th November 2008 - (1) comment

There are now 1.82m unemployed people in Britain. That’s 140,000 more than the previous quarter, according to the latest Labour Force Survey.

The unemployment rate is 5.8 per cent, which is 0.4 percentage points higher than the three months to June 2008.

Unemployment hasn’t been this high since 1997.

The figures come a day after Conservative Party leader David Cameron announced incentives to drive down unemployment figures.

However, isango! founder Ranjan Singh is one entrepreneur who is unconvinced Cameron’s plans will help small businesses.

Singh is currently slashing his cost base by cutting jobs at his internet start-up.

“Staffing is our biggest cost so we’re reducing manpower,” he says. “We’ve also shelved some technology projects that didn’t have an immediate return on investment, and are pursuing more rigorous ROI-based initiatives when it comes to marketing.”

The CBI's Deputy Director-General, John Cridland, comments: “With the downturn now hitting every sector of the economy, job losses are an unwelcome but inevitable consequence of these difficult times.

“It is clear that the human cost of this downturn will unfortunately be higher than initially expected, with unemployment continuing to rise through the coming months.”

Picture source

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1 Comments

November 12, 2008 12:35pm
Brian Rogers Says:

What I find so worrying about the rapidly escalating figure is where Brown is going to find jobs for all the unemployed in the future. They reduced unemployment when they came to power by creating tens of thousands of jobs in the public sector. If masses of small businesses,the backbone of this country,continue to close then just how many more jobs can Labour create? I think Labour have burnt all their bridges.They have all but destroyed manufacturing,Independant retailers,the Pub trade,farming,etc,etc and now we are all paying the price. We need strong positive action TODAY to give small businesses confidence that they have a government supporting them instead of driving them into the ground. Wake up Brown and do what this country needs or step aside!