Britannia Radio

[Note that the figures are a month-and-a-half behind the present 
situation]

Although this has been widely forecast the figures whjen they come 
represent human tragedy of a widespread scale, and we read them in 
the knowledge that have already got worse and are going to get much 
worse soon.

[See separate posting to follow on the Bank of England's quarterly 
inflation report]
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BBC ONLINE   12.11.08
Unemployment reaches 11-year high

The number of people out of work in the UK in the tree months to 
September jumped by 140,000 to 1.82 million - the highest in 11 years.

The unemployment rate rose to 5.8%, up from 5.4% in the previous 
quarter, according to official figures.

The number of people claiming the Jobseeker's Allowance rose by 
36,500 to 980,900 in October - the highest monthly increase since 1992.

Economists say unemployment could top two million within months.
These latest jobs figures came shortly before the Bank of England 
produced its gloomiest set of forecasts for in more than a decade.

The Bank said Britain's economy had probably already entered 
recession and was likely to contract further in 2009.

On Tuesday news came of more than 5,000 cuts by firms including 
Virgin Media, Yell and GlaxoSmithKline.

Policy 'priority'
The annual growth rate of average earnings, including bonuses, eased 
to 3.3% in the three months to September compared to the previous 
period.

Excluding bonuses, average earnings grew at 3.6%, unchanged on the 
previous three months. Inflation is currently 5.2% but is set to 
plummet as the economy slows.

  The number of manufacturing jobs fell to 2.86 million, the lowest 
figure since records began in 1978.

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "The signs are that 
redundancies are coming even faster since these figures were 
collected. Countering unemployment must be public policy priority 
number one."

ING economist James Knightley said that the last recession in the 
early 1990s saw 31 consecutive monthly rises in unemployment.
"We are likely to have plenty more bad news on the labour market to 
come," he warned.

He said the number of those out of work would "push towards 2.5 
million in 2010".

Union pleas
Derek Simpson, joint general secretary of the Unite trade union, 
called for a programme of government intervention.
"Only urgent and widespread action by government to protect jobs and 
homes will help hard-pressed families through the worst of this 
global turmoil," he said.

GMB general secretary Paul Kenny said: "The chancellor is right to 
spend money to keep people in work rather than spend money on 
unemployment benefit."
"He needs to keep the pedal to the metal in terms of spending on 
regeneration," he said.

Graeme Leach, of the Institute of Directors, said unemployment could 
rise to 2.8 million by 2010.
"The UK labour market is about to suffer the consequences of the once-
in-a-generation financial crisis," he said.

Jobless totals
The claimant count - those claiming Jobseeker's Allowance - has now 
increased for nine months in a row and is 154,800 higher than a year 
ago.

The number of people in work fell by 99,000 to 29.4 million and 
vacancies were down by 40,000 to 589,000, according to the Office for 
National Statistics.

The unemployment rate of 5.8% is the highest since early 2000, while 
the number of people looking for work has jumped by 182,000 over the 
past year.

The number of unemployed men was 1.07 million, up 85,000 over the 
latest quarter, while 55,000 more women joined the ranks of the 
unemployed, up to 750,000.

Unemployment among 18 to 24-year-olds increased by 53,000 to 579,000, 
the highest figure since 1995.

Long-term unemployment rose, with the numbers out of work for longer 
than a year up by 20,000 to 435,000.

There was also increase in redundancies, as 156,000 people reported 
they had up lost their jobs during the three months to September - up 
29,000 from the previous quarter.
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POLITICS HOME   12.11.08
1. BBC News at 0935
McNulty: New unemployment figures are disappointing
Tony McNulty, Employment Minister

Mr McNulty conceded that the new unemployment figures were 
disappointing and said it was the government's job to get people back 
to work as quickly as possible.

"They are bad figures, there's no way of putting a shine on that at all.

"Central to the employment figures will be getting liquidity back 
into the whole system. We've also got a range of interventions, from 
training.to offering more help and support.

"Despite high levels of employment, these are disappointing figures.

"We also need to understand that there are still some dynamics in the 
labor market. There are still some 580,000 plus vacancies in the 
economy. It's our job to make sure people's skills are matched to 
these vacancies.

"My role is to ensure that people get back to work as quickly as 
possible, with the support of the government."
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2. Sky News  at 1010
Grayling: Nothing from the govt on how to deal with unemployment

Chris Grayling, shadow Work and Pensions secretary

Mr Grayling described the rise in unemployment as "depressing" and 
said that the government has come forward with nothing on how to deal 
with it.

"Yes, we've got global economic issues. But the reality is we're less 
well prepared to deal with the downturn (than other industrialised 
nations).

"These figures are very depressing. There's a real human cost to 
this. At the moment we're hearing nothing from the government on the 
issue of how we deal with rising unemployment.

"We've got to target money.towards those who may be recruiting in the 
months ahead.

"We can't pay caution to the wind and forget about the consequences 
for tomorrow. I don't think unemployment is a price worth paying. It 
is a real social problem in this country."
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BBC News   at 10:18

Later Mr Grayling said that rising unemployment figures showed why 
the country needed the employment programme set out by David Cameron 
yesterday.

"It emphasises that unemployment has become the number one challenge 
we face in this country. We are really going to have to get to grips 
with this problem," he said.

He added: "What we've got to do is to introduce measures that will 
both protect businesses that are in danger of losing jobs and we need 
the kind of programme we set out yesterday".

"We urgently need an employment programme in this country that will 
actually begin to tackle this problem," he said.
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3. TODAY Radio 4 at 0856
  Ken Clarke: Unemployment is going to surge in the New Year

Ken Clarke, former Chancellor

Mr Clarke warned that unemployment will increase further after 
Christmas, and said that it was important to continue to try to get 
the banking system to work.

Asked what he would do in the current financial crisis he said, "I 
would concentrate on trying to get the banking system and the 
financial system to work.

"Beyond that you need to look at interest rate cuts, we've already 
had. And the tax incentives.

"Unemployment is going to surge in the New Year I think we're going 
to have a big loss of jobs once Christmas is over.

"The nearest parallel we have to now is 1929. This is a financial 
crash of a very serious kind."