Jobs outlook set to be bleak until 2016

THE latest state of the jobs market will be revealed today, with new unemployment figures against a backdrop of increasingly gloomy predictions of redundancies.

Analysts expect the data will show another rise from last month’s 2.6 million amid predictions that the jobless total will not fall below 2.5 million until 2016 at the earliest and will peak at 2.9 million next year. The Federation of Small Businesses warned firms will look to shed staff in the first three months of the year.