UK unemployment surpasses 1 million

Unemployment rates in the UK rose for the tenth consecutive month in November, as official data shows an increase of 75,700 which has taken the total number on jobless benefit to 1.072 million.

It is the first time since 2001 that the unemployment rate has gone past the million mark and is concrete evidence that redundancies have been increasing and firms are reducing their workforce in order to meet the reduced demand

According to George Buckley, the chief UK economist at Deutsche Bank, what is worrying is the scale of job losses this early in the recessionary cycle as unemployment is usually a lagging indicator. However this is an indication of just how nervous most industries are about surviving the recession.

It now means that 6 per cent of the British population is now unemployed and Howard Archer, the chief UK and European economist at IHS Global Insight, has revealed that the data does make stark reading.

This has been compounded by the fact that Sterling has hit a record low against the euro and a session low against the dollar having dropped to $1.5493.

There is little doubt that the scale of unemployment will be getting even sharper in 2009 as the economy is heading towards a 2 percent contraction, concluded Mr Archer.

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