Job cuts leave 15,000 on benefits

Thu 17 Jul 2008

Recent job cuts have seen 15,000 more people sign up for benefits.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed unemployment rose in June and the number of vacancies fell by more than 32,000 in the last quarter.

Much of the recent turmoil is blamed on troubled housing and financial markets, as Vince Cable, Liberal Democrat Treasury spokesman noted.

"As the bottom falls out of the housing market, we are now seeing thousands of construction jobs being lost. If consumer demand continues to fall, this will spread across the whole economy."

Nevertheless, the ONS found the trend in the employment rate is increasing with 29.5 million people now in work, the highest amount since records began in 1971.

The largest falls in vacancies were in distribution, hotels and restaurants (down 16,500) and finance and business services (down 9,000).

Many large firms have their customer services handled by call centre jobs in Birmingham, Liverpool and Cardiff.

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