U.K. jobless reaches record 2.16M

Press, 27 November 1980, Page 9

U.K. jobless reaches record 2.16M

NZPA-ROuter London Britain's record number of unemployed has risen steeply again, to 8.9 per cent of the, workforce, according to Government statistics published yesterday.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer (Sir Geoffrey Howe) said public spending would be greater than planned this year, mainly because more benefits were going to the unemployed, who total 2,162,874, compared with 2,062,866 last month. The figures are. the worst since the Depression of the 19305.

The jobless total was announced as industrialists and politicians digested a new economic package in which the Government on Tuesday cut interest rates, increased some taxes, and again slashed public spending. Sir Geoffrey said inflation was falling rapidly — now at 15.4 per cent — but he admitted to Parliament that the recession was deeper than he had expected. The new move was a bid to get the economy, back on course.

Last week the Government presented a $521 million

plan to give job training to every unemployed school leaver under 18. In a bid to ease the recession Sir Geoffrey’s proposal included a cut in the Bank of England minimum lending rate from 16 per cent to 14 per cent.

The leading High Street banks responded immediately by cutting their overdraft rates by 2 per cent. Industrialists have put increasing pressure on the Government to cut interest rates, which they say are causing bankryptcies.