Unemployment Rises In December

Unemployment figures for December have risen drastically. Citizens seeking jobseeker's allowance rose by 77,900 to a total of 1.16 million. This is the second largest rise since the early 1990s recession. Unemployment figures in general are up by 131,000 and now amount to 1.92 million. This is the biggest total reported since September of 1997.

This increase accompanied a record rise in redundancies as many businesses cut back or collapsed. The Office for National Statistics reports that there has been 11 months of growth in the dole queue. 160,000 people applied just between October and December.

225,000 people have also been made redundant over the 3 months leading up to November. This number increased by nearly 78,000 from the prior three month period. That figure is the highest recorded since the Office began recording it in 1995.

The bad news isn't just limited to job losses though. Prospects for work have seen a steady decline as job vacancies also dropped nearly 69,000 to a total of only 530,000.

Economists are fairly certain that the unemployment numbers will go far above the 2 million mark over the course of the year. The chief UK economist at IHS Global Insight, Howard Archer, warned that the labour market can expect worse news ahead as the recession deepens and tight credit harms the economy.

More bad news seems to be on the way too as more companies struggle. BHP Billiton, a mining group, just reported that they would be cutting 6,000 jobs worldwide. The new merger of Co-operative Financial Services and Britannia Building Society is also expected to cause a number of redundancies.

All sectors have been hurt by the downturn. Manufacturing has seen a 3% drop over the year, but it's believe that the finance sector has been hit the hardest. The figures won't be in until next month though.

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