英国再次掀起裁员高潮

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These students at Hackney Community College are training to be builders, but that's the sector that has seen huge job losses over the past year. Coupled to that, Hackney has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and now it's going up again. Total unemployment reaches its highest level through 11 years today. For 18 to 24 year-old, it's even worse. It's not been this bad since 1995.

"I've run a few Brick Lane firm for Brick Lane partnerships, and at the moment, I've got nothing, so I just went , hope the teachers' help would get us as well."

"I am not worried, it’s about getting a job and I will get a job.”

Across the UK unemployment has now reached more than 1.8million, up a 140,000 in just a quarter. For young people alone it's more than half a million, an increase of 53,000. In the last recession, Britain suffered 31 consecutive months of rising unemployment. So economists agree it's going to get much worse in the downturn. Some are even predicting it will reach 2.5 million by 2010.

"So another steep rise in unemployment, the government has bailed out the banks, it’s proposed tax cuts to stimulate the economy, but now the Unions insist it must help the growing ranks of the unemployed by increasing benefits. It is that they say or poverty spreads."

 "We are not yet seeing figures of the level we saw in the early 90s and in the early 80s when three million were unemployed, but this is a different kind of recession. A lot of white collar jobs disappearing, it is not just hitting manufacturing in the north of country every part of the country is being affected. That's why we really do need the urgent action to make sure we don't reach the level of unemployment that we saw three million plus in previous, in previous downturns."

So unemployment is rising in every sector and nearly in every region in the country. This morning the government announced it was doubling the funding of its job center rapid response from 3 to 6 million pounds with perhaps more money to come.

"Our job is to spend as much time in effort making sure the people stay in work and economy becomes buoyant as early as possible, as well as provide as much support we can for people as they sadly lose their jobs to get back to the labor market as soon as possible. All that's being done, the pre-budget report will announce the next stage of that. People have to wait and see what it says."

Yesterday Virgin media Glance So Smith at Yale announces a total of 5,000 job losses. Manufacturing, the number of jobs is now at its lowest level since records began in 1978.