UK Unemployment Rises

123jump.com Staff
17 Dec, 2008
New York City

U.K. unemployment rate soars to 6% in the three months to October, a rise of 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter. The retailer under administration, Woolworth faces closure at the end of first week in January, unless it finds a buyer.

[R]2:00PM New York, 7:00PM London- U.K. unemployment rate soars to 6% in the three months to October. Woolworths is likely to close in January.[/R]

London stocks rose marginally despite a rise in unemployment rate to 6% in the quarter to October.

In London trading FTSE 100 index rose 0.4% or 15.11 to 4,324.19.

Of the FTSE 100 index stocks, 60 rose, 39 declined, and 3 were unchanged. Fresnillo led advancers in the index shares with a rise of 8% followed by Lonmin Plc gaining 6.7%.

U.K. Unemployment Rate Rises

Office of National Statistics reported today that the working age employment rate fell 0.4 percentage points from the previous quarter to 74.2% in the three months to October.

People in full-time employment slipped 122,000 to 21.88 million in the quarter to October, while those in part-time employment rose 7,000 to 7.50 million in the period.

In the review period, the number of people employed in public sector employment rose 14,000 from a quarter earlier to 5.76 million in the three months ended September.

Private sector employment also rose 128,000 from June to 23.61 million in September.

The unemployment rate gained 0.4 percentage points from the earlier quarter to 6% in the quarter to October.

In addition, the claimant count soared by 75,700 from the previous quarter to 1.07 million in the fourth quarter to October.

Vacancies in the review period shed 49,000 to 562,000.

Employee jobs in manufacturing industries declined 73,000 from a year ago to 2.83 million in the three months to October.

Total hours worked per week fell 7.6 million from the quarter to July to 937.9 million in the three months to October 2008.

The unemployment level soared 137,000 over the quarter to July to 1.86 million.

According to the statistics office, the claimant count rose 75,700 from October to 1.07 million in November, while the claimant count rate in November 2008 was 3.3%.

Gainers & Losers

Fresnillo led advancers in the FTSE 100 index shares with a rise of 8% followed by increases in Lonmin Plc of 6.7%, Hammerson Plc of 6.5%, in Invensys of 6.1% and 31 Group Plc of 6%.

HSBC Holdings led decliners in the FTSE 100 index shares with a fall of 6% followed by losses in HBOS Plc of 5.7%, in Royal Bank of Scotland of 4.7%, in Smith & Nephew of 4.5%, and Sage Group of 4%.

Woolworths Likely to Close in January

Bloomberg News reported that Neville Kahn of Deloitte said in a call today that Woolworths is likely to close before January 5 next year unless the company finds a buyer.

Kahn said an estimated 22,000 permanent staff and 5,000 temporary workers will lose their jobs in the event of retailer closure and 200 stores will close on December 27.

Deloitte is currently in talks with other retailers regarding potential offers for 300 stores, and also had """"considerable interest"""" for the other 500 outlets.

The company''s trademarks such as Ladybird clothing and Chad Valley toys are likely to be sold.