Britain's unemployment rate will
edge up to 9 per cent in the first quarter of 2013 from 8.4 per cent in the end of last year, the
British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) said on Monday.
BCC, a leading business organization in Britain, said the unemployment population will increase to 230,000 to top 2.90 million in the first quarter of 2013 from 2.67 million in October-December 2011, Xinhua reported.
Unemployment in the 18-24 age group is forecast to be around 850,000, with a jobless rate of 23 per cent in the last quarter of this year.
Statistics showed that youth unemployment is currently at a
record high in Britain , with 1.04 million or 22.2 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds without a job.
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in January increased by 6,900 to 1.6 million.
It also predicted that Britain's annual consumer price index (CPI), a main gauge of inflation, will ease to 2.7 per cent in 2012 and further down to 1.9 per cent in 2013, compared with 4.5 per cent in 2011.
Annual average retail price index (RPI) inflation, which was 5.2 per cent last year, is expected to stay at 3.2 per cent in 2012 and 2.3 per cent in 2013.
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