Surprise jump in UK unemployment
UK unemployment has risen to nearly 2.4 million with a jump of over 280,000 in the three months to May 2009. These figures are way above what analysts had expected, with some pencilling in a rise of 140,000, and do not bode will have a future. The overall rate of unemployment in the UK now stands at 7.6% and with the figure expected to top 3.2 million sometime during 2010 the situation is turning from difficult to critical for the UK authorities.
Not only does the increase in unemployment place yet more pressure on the social security system but also ensures that a number of school, college and university leavers will sample possibly prolonged unemployment in the short term. Even though there had for sometime been expectations that unemployment would reach 3 million over the next 12 months, the significant rise in the last three months has caught many off guard.
However, while there have been signs of stability in some areas of the UK economy the manufacturing industry has yet to feel the benefit of any uplift. When you also take into account the recovery in the UK exchange rate against the likes of the dollar and the euro, even UK exports are not as competitive as there were just six months ago.
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