City experts sounded the alarm over the state of the labour market last night after it emerged that unemployment had jumped by the biggest figure in 13 years.

Some 108,000 people lost their jobs last year, the Office for National Statistics reported. It was the fastest rise since the tail-end of the last recession in 1993 and prompted warnings that the employment “golden age” had come to an end.

Some 1.5 million people, 5.2 per cent of the working-age population, are unemployed - the largest number for more than three years. A further record 7.95 million people are “economically inactive”, a category that includes long-term sick, students and stay-at-home mothers and fathers.

Read More Here

[Could the above be in any linked to the story below?-ed]

Britain ‘leads way in letting in new workers’

Britain was held up by Brussels yesterday as a shining example for France and the rest of “Old Europe” to follow when it comes to letting in workers from the former Communist bloc.

Since eight former Communist nations joined the EU 18 months ago only Britain, Ireland and Sweden have opened their borders to workers from those countries. Other nations from the old 15-member EU have imposed quotas and permit schemes to shield domestic workers from a feared flood of “Polish plumbers” and other cheap labour.

Read Full Story