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| UK jobless rate soars to 7.8%; highest in 13 yrs |
| Press Trust of India / London Aug 12, 2009, 21:12 IST |
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The unemployment rate in the UK shot up to a 13-year high of 7.8 per cent for April-June 2009, as companies continued to slash jobs to bring down cost.
Moreover, the number of the jobless climbed by 220,000 over the previous quarter to touch 2.43 million (24.3 lakh), reportedly the highest in nearly 14 years.
"The unemployment rate was 7.8 per cent for the three months to June 2009, up 0.7 over the previous quarter and up 2.4 over the year.
"The number of unemployed people increased by 220,000 over the quarter and by 750,000 over the year, to reach 2.43 million," the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) said in a statement today.
Britain has been severely hit by the ongoing financial crisis and has seen thousands of job losses.
Going by the official data, the number of people in Britain claiming jobless benefits jumped by 24,900 in July to 1.58 million.
According to the ONS, there were 427,000 job vacancies in the three months to July 2009, the lowest in eight years and the largest declines were in finance and business services.
"This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 2001 and it is down 26,000 over the previous quarter and down 203,000 over the year," it noted.
"Most sectors have shown falls in vacancies over the quarter with the largest fall occurring in finance and business services (down 13,000)," the statement said.
The total number of unemployed people for the three months to June 2009 stood at 28.93 million, a fall of 271,000 over the quarter.
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