Unemployment on the rise again

11/02/2009

Unemployment figures in the UK rose to 1.97 million in December.

The total number of people claiming unemployment benefit also registered a rise to 1.23 million.

According to the Office of National Statistics, the jobless total was higher in December than it has been at any point since 1997.

The rise in unemployment has been brought about by the credit crunch, which has made it harder for businesses up and down the UK to secure loans.

Sales have also been hit, leading some bosses to cut back staff in order to limit losses.

Speaking to the BBC, Peter Mooney, head of consultancy with Employment Law Advisory Services, said: "From early in December, the number of firms seeking our help in making redundancies simply exploded.

"Things will certainly get worse before they get better. We would expect to see another significant increase in the number of people out of work in the figures published next month, as many more firms were forced to cut staff early in the New Year."

Tags; Job loss, Recent Graduate Debt,

• Share
• 
• 
• Store
• 
• Follow
•