Britain’s unemployment rises to two million

LONDON - Britain’s unemployed population has risen to around two million, according to an official estimate released here Wednesday.

The number of unemployed workers rose by 131,000 to 1.92 million between September and November 2008, the highest total since September 1997.

However, the figure does not include the job cuts since November when the country entered into a deep recession, BBC reported.

Around 225,000 jobs were made redundant in the period, while those claiming job seeker’s allowances increased by 77,900 to 1.16 million, according to Britain’s National Statistics office.

The unemployment rate was 6.1 percent for the three months to the end of November, compared with 5.2 percent in the corresponding period of 2007.

It is the highest jobless rate since the three months to the end of April 1999, BBC said.

Referring to the figures as ‘very disappointing’, Employment Minister Tony McNulty predicted that things would ‘get worse before they get better’.