The British Office for National Statistics says that the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. is at record highs, according to numbers from February. An estimated 1.39 million residents are now on job seeker’s allowance, following a surge of new claimants totaling in excess of 138,000 last month.

The monthly increase is the highest since the beginning of recorded statistics in 1971, and economists had only anticipated a rise 50 percent of this size, they say. The 1.39 million are over half the total number of unemployed, 2.03 million, which is a higher unemployment rate than has been seen since 1997; certain people are unable to claim benefits, others choose not to for personal reasons. There are projections for an increase in the number of unemployed people to take the figure to over 3 million, and analysts fear that such a prediction could take effect soon.

Earlier claims by U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown that Britain was far and away one of the best equipped nations to handle a recession, were dredged up by opposition leader David Cameron, as shares on the London stock market plummeted with the news.

“Doesn’t this reveal that the claims repeatedly made by you that Britain was one of the best countries in the world to withstand recession was simply nonsense?” David Cameron (addressing Brown)

All areas of the employment sector have been hit in Britain, with higher layoffs than can be remembered, a trend which has been seen throughout all developed and developing economies. The public sector remains the only area untouched by job losses, which currently employs 5.78 million, and created 30,000 new jobs last year. There have been fears, which some say are being validated by the new statistics, of a “two nation” Britain, forcing a rift between the public and private sectors.

Amit Kara, a UBS economist, said: “The picture is very grim. We’re looking at a peak of 3.5 million next year.” This number tops earlier estimates.

 Print This   Email This   Share/Save