British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged today to spend an extra £500m sterling to stem rising unemployment caused by the financial crisis.
The UK government's main aim is to get people who lose their jobs back to work before they become long-term unemployed and out of touch with working life. Brown said the government was helping employers who took on new staff, helping young people with new apprenticeships and helping people to start their own businesses.
The government is to give companies up to £2,500 for new recruits who have been unemployed for more than six months, according to a report in the Guardian newspaper.
Unemployment in Britain rose to 1.864 million people in the three months to October, equal to 6% of the workforce and the highest rate since the three months to June 1999.
Some commentators forecast it could rise as high as three million before the economy recovers. Retailer Marks & Spencer and car maker Nissan said last week they were axing 2,430 jobs between them.
Brown told a jobs summit today that the UK government is determined to prevent short-term unemployment becoming long-term, according to prepared remarks released by his office. 'We are today setting out a new guarantee of intensive support for anyone still unemployed after six months,' he said.
UK business leaders have called for more measures to free up credit to help tackle the unemployment issue. The Confederation of British Industry (CBI), which is attending the summit, said it wanted measures to get cash flowing to business again.
The British Retail Consortium, also attending the summit, said it wants Brown to do more for its members, citing the example of variety store Woolworths, which went into administration with the loss of 27,000 jobs.
