GMB: Unemployed face 'miserable Christmas'

Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary, said:

"With unemployment stuck at two and a half million, a lot of families face a miserable Christmas without any hope of getting a job. It is definitely hurting but it's not working.

"At GMBwe have been seeing further job losses in both the public and private sectors over the past two months and it is hard to see where the new jobs are going to come from with confidence at rock bottom.

The chancellor needs to use the autumn statement to kick start the economy.”

George Osborne will deliver his autumn update in the Commons on 5 December.

It provides an update on the government’s plans for the economy based on the latest forecasts from the Office for Budget Responsibility.

The OBR reports on the state of the public finances and assesses whether the government is likely to achieve its goal of balancing the UK's budget within five years.

Today's figures from the ONS showed the unemployment rate for July to September 2012 was 7.8 per cent of the economically active population, down 0.2 from April to June 2012.

There were 2.51 million unemployed people, down 49,000 from April to June 2012.

Employment minister Mark Hoban said:

"We've seen the number of people in work increase by 100,000, another drop in the number of people unemployed, youth unemployment is falling again for the second month running so there are some really positive signs here."