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"We see unemployment continuing to rise in the months ahead with the prospect of 3 million unemployed looking more and more likely"
- James Knightley, an economist at ING Bank NV
U.K. unemployment rose by 128 thousand to 2.64 million in three months to October, the highest level in 17 years, adding to concerns the country is heading towards a recession. Jobless rate jumped to 8.3 percent from 7.9 percent in the previous quarter, said the Office for National Statistics on Wednesday.
"The reason that unemployment is going up is because we're losing jobs in the public sector and we're not growing fast enough in the private sector, so we need to do everything we can to get the economy moving. The absolute key to that is keeping our interest rates low," said Prime Minister David Cameron to Parliament.
"We see unemployment continuing to rise in the months ahead with the prospect of 3 million unemployed looking more and more likely given lead indicators are pointing to a growing threat of recession," said James Knightley, an economist at ING Bank NV.