Unemployment 1.92 million and rising

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Last Modified: 21 Jan 2009
By: Jane Deith

Unemployment rose to 1.92 million in November and is set to rise further, with dramatic implications for families throughout Britain.

Richard Walmsley was made redundant by the MFI furniture chain last summer and the father-of-two from Northamptonshire has been looking for work ever since.

Last month, the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance increased by 78,000 to 1.16 million, its highest total since September 1997, the year of Labour's first landslide election victory.

This figure does not include the tens of thousands of redundancies made since then.

The employment minister has predicted more pain ahead, with the outlook for jobs likely to worsen before it improves.

But he said the government is providing help for people who lose their jobs.