UK In Recession As Economy Slides

[Steel Bat]

The UK is now in recession for the first time since 1991, official government figures have confirmed.

Gross domestic product fell by 1.5% in the last three months of 2008 after a 0.6% drop in the previous quarter.
That means that the widely accepted definition of a recession - two consecutive quarters of falling economic growth - has been met.

Source & full article - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7846266.stm


For those of us that have already lost our jobs and are facing an uncertain future, that the economy is in a mess is not news.

[Val]

When does a recession become a depression, I'm sure for a lot of people it is already.

[Steel Bat]

The company I worked for went bust and I was made redundant at the beginning of the year.

So yeah....just now does seem somewhat depressing...

[Val]

Sorry to hear about that Al, have you anything in the pipeline? It is terrifying the amount of people being laid off through no fault of anyone's except the greedy banks.

[Steel Bat]

Job prospects in 2009 'alarming'

UK companies are shedding jobs at an ever-growing rate, says the Chartered Institute of Personnel (CIPD).
Its research suggests more than one in three UK employers are planning to cut jobs in the first three months of 2009.
This is twice as many as planned to make cuts during the final three months of 2008.
"These latest... figures suggest that job prospects are deteriorating at an alarming rate," said CIPD's chief economist John Philpott.

Cutbacks
A total of 36% of employers surveyed plan to cut staff in the first quarter of 2009, compared with the 27% that plan to take on additional staff.
This is the first time that a higher proportion of employers plan to cut staff than hire them since the survey began in 2004.

"The labour market outlook is clearly even worse than expected at the turn of the year," added Mr Pilpott.


Source & full article - http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7878206.stm


The outlook is becoming bleak for a great many people, including myself.
Last week I tramped round a large industrial estate dropping cv's and asking if anyone had any openings. A large number of the companies were closed - gone, others told me were laying staff off. One or two said they might let me know if something comes up....could be a long wait.

[Val]

It is awful out there even those with jobs aren't safe, I've heard of a lot of people having a 4 day week, drivers for M&S and other large companies who you would think are okay.Builders going belly up, shops closing, it makes you wonder how its going to end up.

[Steel Bat]

The US banks have been blamed for initially causing the recession but that does not account for why Britain is doing  worst out of all the other industrialised nations with the possible exception of Iceland.

After having usurped the Premiership all but un-opposed, in my opinion the slide into chaos started when Brown chickened out of calling a General Election.
At a stroke, he lost the Countries confidence and confidence is the major factor for the financial institutions.

I can't see as there can be any improvement until he goes. Even then, whichever Government comes next will inherit a terrible legacy of economic devastation, loss of industry and mass un-employment.