Jobless figures continue to rise

Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf

RECORD numbers of Islanders are now registered as unemployed, with 60 more people out of work at the end of October than a month before.
Figures released this morning reveal that there were 1,290 people listed as actively seeking work by Social Security on 31 October – a figure that has been surpassed only once since the early 1980s. The highest figure was in February this year, when the number hit 1,320.
Today’s figures, which were published by the States Statistics Unit, suggest that labourers and other low-skilled Islanders who work as cleaners, messengers, hotel porters, kitchen assistants and bar staff are being hit hardest by the continuing economic downturn.
Treasury Minister Philip Ozouf said that the numbers were not unexpected in terms of what had been forecast in certain sectors of the economy. (from JEP)