Unemployment will claim one in 10 of the workforce as the recession tightens, according to industry leaders.
Unemployment will claim one in 10 of the workforce as the recession tightens, according to industry leaders.
The British Chambers of Commerce claims that the jobless figure would rise to 3.1m over the next two years - taking the unemployment rate back to the early 1990s.
Latest figures show that there were 31.53m jobs in the UK in September, down 134,000 over the quarter and down 71,000 over the year. This is the biggest quarterly fall in jobs since December 1992 yet does not take account of the recent casualties of the downturn.
Market analysts Experian delivered a separate warning on the rapid deterioration of the economy, speculating that around 440 retailers will collapse in the first four months of the year.
The company said that the beginning of 2009 would be the worst period for retailers since the winter of discontent 30 years ago.
Very few retailers would escape unaffected, the group said, and that large firms would be as much at risk as smaller enterprises.
The grim prediction comes as French fashion chain Morgan became the latest high street victim of the recession. The firm pulled out of the UK in March, but employs more than 1000 people across 57 countries. It has 750 staff in France.
This week it was announced that the USC chain, owned by Sir Tom Hunter, had gone into administration with 300 jobs now at risk after 15 of the least-viable stores were put up for sale. The other 43 stores are now in the ownership of another company headed by the multi-millionaire.
Experian said that a total of 1137 non-food retailers had failed in 2008, an increase of 21% on the year before. As well as USC, other stores which have collapsed include MFI, Woolworths, Zavvi and childrenswear store Adams.
Fashion chains are particularly at risk because they buy the majority of their clothes from the Far East in dollars.
Jonathan De Mello, director of retail consultancy at Experian, said: "Britain is still a nation of shopkeepers and the retail sector is one of the largest employers. It is not just people directly employed by retailers that will suffer, it is also their suppliers, manufacturers and service providers."
Retail giant Asda laid down the gauntlet of a supermarket price war after it announced reductions on 1000 products in 350 stores.
The offers include £1 deals on a range of 100 frozen goods, three-for-£10 deals on leading wines, three-for-£10 offers on selected joints of chicken or meat and 200 everyday health and beauty lines at £1.
