Unemployment 'hits record high'

20/11/2008

The number of people unemployed in the UK has reached its highest level for in 11-years, according to new data.

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the unemployment rate has risen to 5.8 per cent in the three months to September.

This announcement is unlikely to have come at a worse time for many Britons, following research by the Alliance Trust Financial Reality index revealing household wealth has also reached an 11-year low.

The total number of unemployed workers has now reached 1.82 million, rising by 182,000 in this year alone.

Briton has not had to cope with this many people being out of work since December 1997, when unemployment reached 1.87 million.

TUC general secretary, Brendan Barber, remarked that the job losses were likely to have come as a "terrible shock" to many families.

He said: "Going from a typical wage down to this poverty income will be a terrible shock for people losing their job through no fault of their own."

He noted that the unemployment total was now rising at a rate of around 1,000 jobs each day.

Tags; Job loss,

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