Unemployment data better than expected

18/06/2009

The latest unemployment news is not as bad as had been expected, a top business group said today.

According to the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), while the surprisingly small rise in job losses is "welcome news", Britain's workers face tough times ahead in the recession.

Yesterday, official figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the UK unemployment total had risen to 2.26 million - 7.2 per cent of the workforce and a 12-year high.

However, the 0.7 per cent rise in the jobless total over the past three months is not as bad as many analysts had feared, given how bad the recession is.

David Kern, chief economist at the BCC, said: "The situation is pretty bad, unemployment has been rising pretty rapidly.

"While it is good news that unemployment is not as bad as was expected or feared it is still up and it has gone up relentlessly for the past year. The new figures are consistent with the view that the decline in the economy has moderated but it is not showing a recovery."

Groups including the Confederation of British Industry expect unemployment to hit three million next year, as the effects of the downturn continue to filter through to the jobs market.

Tags; Young Family Finances, Job loss, Recent Graduate Debt,

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