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Unemployment is highest for 14 years after record rise
Jonathan Prynn, Consumer Business Editor15 Jul 2009
The recession has claimed Britain's biggest cull of jobs, official figures revealed today.
The national unemployment total grew by 281,000 in the three months to the end of May, outstripping previous records seen in the depths of the last two recessions.
The tally lifted the jobless total to 2.38 million, the highest level for 14 years.
The unemployment rate has hit 7.6 per cent, roughly one worker in 13, and experts fear it is heading towards one in 10.
The burden of the recession appears to have fallen particularly hard on the young as they join the jobs market. The number of unemployed 18- to 24-year-olds jumped by almost 100,000 to 766,000.
There was a much smaller increase in the number of people signing on for Jobseeker's Allowance.
The dole queue rose by only 23,800 in June to 1.56million. It is still the worst total since Labour came to power in 1997.
Economists said the huge discrepancy between the two figures either pointed to a slowdown in unemployment after May or a reluctance of the middle-class jobless to sign on. The claimant count has now increased for 16 consecutive months and is more than 700,000 higher than a year ago.
London's unemployment total soared by 28,000 to 348,000 or 8.6 per cent of the working population, the highest since 1998.
The figures show how virtually all the jobs lost in London are in higher-paid white-collar industries. In the year to the end of March, 82,000 London jobs were lost in the classification that includes financial and other business services sectors.
David Kern, chief economist at the British Chambers of Commerce, said: "These figures make grim reading and confirm our assessment that although the recession is easing, unemployment is set to continue rising. We reaffirm our forecast that unemployment will peak at around 3.2 million next year."
David Breger, partner at HW Fisher and Company chartered accountants, said: "The recession continues to take its toll on the thousands of small and medium-sized businesses that are the lifeblood of this country's workforce.
Reader views (7)
In that case can't they improve daytime telly?
It's the dread of that that's keeping me in this godforsaken hellhole of a job.
For the time being,anyway.
- Steve, London, 16/07/2009 08:51
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Roz,France.
Like it!
- Steve, London, 16/07/2009 08:45
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Thanks Gordon Brown.
- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants, 15/07/2009 22:05
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Hang on, the chap on the television just said that there are signs of recovery and that things were picking up. Your not telling me that the government is lying to me, are you?
- Gary, London, 15/07/2009 21:36
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and then there's all the people like me out of work but unable to sign on because they have savings;there must thousands of them from lay-offs in the City.
- Squiz, Islington, 15/07/2009 20:36
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Isn't this simply to do with immigration. A similar scenario would be the NHS announcing a massive increase in HIV cases in Coventry. The simple explanation is that the government has identified Coventry as a destination for migrant Africans.
- Ben Farrell, London, 15/07/2009 20:36
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Let's hear the Government mantra that they're just too lazy to work and should be grateful for the huge influx of foreign workers willing to their work for them!
- Roz, France, 15/07/2009 20:36
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