With recession looming, companies in the UK are closing down their business fast and laying off people, giving rise to increase in unemployment to a new alarming rate.The economic downturn has gone from bad to worse, and with the trend, it is likely that the job loss in UK could hit a million when Christmas comes in December.
The unemployment rate has been the sharpest increase since the last 16 years. Similarly, the number of people applying for the unemployment benefit has risen by 32,500, a number only matched by the bad recession in 1992.
In August, the number of job loss recorded a 6-digit figure of 110,000, the first time such digit was achieved. The August loss, combined with the previous losses, make up a staggering total of 900,000 job redundancies overall. And as the economy continues to plunge downwards, it will only be a matter of time the magic figure of one million is hit.
Workers in banking, manufacturing and services sectors are the worst affected.
On the other hand, while companies are still hiring, it is moving at a snail’s pace and the number of job vacancies made available has gone down significantly by some 15%. It is clear that at the moment, companies are reluctant to hire more staff, and even if they do, they’ve been very selective in getting only the right candidates for the job.
