The jobless rate looks set to soar in the UK despite government efforts to help companies retain staff, as firms lay off workers and drastically reduce their demand for new staff. Pay growth has meanwhile slumped, adding to worries that consumer spending will be hit by both rising unemployment and falling incomes.
The downbeat official data largely corroborate worrying falls in recent survey data, but encouragingly the latter fuel hopes that April will be have been the worst month in terms of lay-offs and falling employment.
Jobless claimants at highest since 1993
Data from the