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The number of unemployed in the U.K. reached a 14-year high of 2.44 million in the three months to June as recession claimed thousands of jobs again, official data showed Wednesday.
Unemployment increased by 220,000 to 2.435 million in the three months to June, the biggest figure since 1995, the Office for National Statistics said. The jobless rate rose to 7.8%, the highest since 1996, from 7.1% recorded in the three months to March and a notch higher than the expected rate of 7.7%.
Business Secretary Peter Mandelson, currently in charge of the country while Prime Minister Gordon Brown takes a holiday, reportedly described unemployment levels as "unacceptable".
"Even if the economy starts growing later this year, it is likely that unemployment will continue rising at a rapid pace," David Kern, Chief Economist at the British Chambers of Commerce said.
"There is still a realistic chance that the jobless total will exceed 3 million next year and it is important for the Government to address this," Kern said.
Brendan Barber, Trades Union Congress General Secretary said today's figures show the British economy is still some way off recovery. "The Government must do more to get people back into work, otherwise we risk losing another generation of young people to mass unemployment."
Rising for the seventeenth consecutive month, the number of people claiming jobseekers' allowance increased by 24,900 to 1.58 million in July, the highest level since May 1997. The claimant count rate was 4.9%, up 0.1 percentage point from June. Economists had forecast jobless claims to rise 28,000.
Earlier this week, the British government launched an urgent inquiry into the striking discrepancy between the number of people out of work and those who were claiming jobseekers' allowance.
The Bank of England, which on August 6 said that the recession in the U.K. is deeper than estimated, expects further increases in the number of people out of work.
Also on Wednesday, the BoE said in its quarterly inflation report that the timing and strength of the economic recovery remains highly uncertain.
"The global recession is continuing to have an impact on families across the UK," Work and Pensions Minister Angela Eagle commented. At the same time, she noted that the government's GBP 5 billion plan to create jobs are showing some impact.
The number of redundancies in the three months to June was 277,000, down 9,000 over the quarter, but up 150,000 over the previous year.
There were 427,000 job vacancies in the three months to July, the lowest figure since comparable records began in 2001. The ONS said most sectors have shown declines in vacancies over the quarter with the largest fall occurring in finance and business services, down 13,000.
Average earnings, both including and excluding bonuses, increased by 2.5% in the three months to June compared with the previous year. Excluding bonuses, annual growth rate is the lowest since comparable records began in 2001.
The employment rate was 72.7% for the three months to June, down 0.9 percentage points from the previous quarter. The total number of people in employment was 28.93 million, down 271,000 over the quarter.
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