UK unemployment hits 17 year high

This morning’s UK unemployment rate showed an increase in the number of Britons out of work to 2.685m, the highest since 1994. In a stark illustration of the underlying weakness of the UK economy, this equates to 8.4% of the workforce, although the rate of increase does appear to be levelling off compared to recent months. The next couple of months will be crucial in determining whether the UK can stave off a second recession. Any signs that we may be heading back to negative growth would be likely to hurt sterling, resulting in lower exchange rates for curency transfer services. The next important UK data is for retail sales, due out on Friday morning.