Biggest rise in UK unemployment since 1971

One feature of the impact of the recession on the UK labour market has been how quickly both measures of unemployment have started to climb as the downturn has deepened. Unemployment using the LFS climbed by a record 281,000 to hit 2.38 million (7.6%) in the three months to May, the highest level since October 1995. And youth unemployment has spiked to the highest level since the early 1990s.

Labour shedding will continue well after the turning point in the economic cycle has been called since the jobless total remains a lagging indicator. Unemployment has risen by 750,000 over the last twelve months and employment is down by nearly half a million. Perhaps much of the jobs cull has already happened; businesses may have reacted with greater speed to falling order books and the credit squeeze than they did in previous slowdowns and recessions.

The BBC’s Hugh Pym reports on the latest bad news from the jobs market

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Martin Wolf on Global Shocks [10 Feb 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Growth and Development - Some Indicators [30 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: The Economic Disaster of Youth Unemployment [28 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Focus on China - Changing Economic Structure [26 Jan 2012]
Unit 4 Macro: Money, Debt and the New World Order [22 Jan 2012]
France and Flexible Employment [22 Jan 2012]
Unit 2 Macro: Living below the Breadline [19 Jan 2012]
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Unit 2 Macro: Factors Driving Business Investment [10 Jan 2012]
Hopes and Fears 2012 [10 Jan 2012]
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Unit 4 Macro: Video Resources on Unemployment [3 Jan 2012]
2011 in Review - The US Economy [27 Dec 2011]
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UK unemployment in November 2011 - a video overview [22 Nov 2011]
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Unit 4 Macro: Unemployment Chart Resource Download [29 Oct 2011]
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Study Note - What is Macroeconomics? [13 Sep 2011]
Public vs Private Sector - the world’s largest employers. [12 Sep 2011]
Unit 2 Macro: Income and Wealth in the UK [12 Sep 2011]
UK Macro: Risks of a Double Dip Recession [12 Sep 2011]
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Macro Revision: Putting Things in Context [25 May 2011]
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AS Macro Key Term: Deflation [24 May 2011]
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