Jobless total hits 17-year high after public sector cull

Unemployment: reached a 17-year high today
12 April 2012

George Osborne's huge public sector jobs cull has sent unemployment spiralling to a 17-year high, official figures revealed today.

The jobless total rose 128,000 in the three months to October to stand at 2.64 million - the highest since September 1994 - and City economists warned of worse to come.

The latest grim landmark came against a backdrop of yet more redundancies with holiday giant Thomas Cook threatening to axe 1,000 staff and software group Logica said that it will have to cut hundreds of posts.

Union bosses said the "shocking figures" showed that the Government's promises to help get people back to work were "as hollow as a chocolate Father Christmas". RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "This Con-Dem government have sat back and done nothing while the gap between haves and have nots in Britain has widened to record levels on their watch."

There was also little cheer for those in work with average basic pay awards of only 1.8 per cent over the past year and heavily outstripped by a 4.8 per cent surge in the cost of living.

The Office for National Statistics figures graphically revealed how the Chancellor's deficit reduction drive is now having a huge knock-on effect.

The number on the public payroll fell 67,000 during the quarter to stand at 5.99 million, the first time it has been below six million since 2003. The ONS today revealed that 376,000 public sector jobs have gone since the 2010 election with 41,000 of those in London.

A breakdown shows that in the year to the end of September there have been 42,000 jobs losses in the NHS and social work, 57,000 in education, 65,000 civil servants, 15,000 from the police and 5,000 from the forces.

However, ministers said there were glimmers of hope in today's statistics, pointing to the smaller than expected 3,000 rise in the number signing on for Jobseeker's Allowance last month. There was also a 5,000 rise in the total employed in the private sector.

Employment minister Chris Grayling said: "There has obviously been an unwelcome increase in unemployment since the summer but these latest figures show some signs that the labour market is stabilising.

"The number of people in employment is higher than last month's published figure and the number of unemployed people is steadying. Encouragingly this is also the case for young people not in education."

But most City economists said they expected unemployment to rise towards three million as the British economy slips back into recession as a result of the eurozone crisis. The latest rise takes the jobless rate to 8.3 per cent of the working population, the highest since 1996. There were 423,000, or one in 10, unemployed in London.

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