Britain to Lose Half a Million Jobs Say CBI

The Confederation of British Industry has predicted that 500,000 British jobs will disappear before the end of the year due to the growing economic crisis.

As billions of pounds were wiped off share values and pensions due to the collapse of US Bank Lehman Brothers, the CBI said that unemployment could rise to 2.01 million, a rate of 6.5%, and warned that for those lucky enough to keep their jobs, earnings growth would be “fairly subdued.”

The stark prediction followed on from yesterdays monumental happenings in the world economy. With the collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank, £50billion was wiped off FTSE 100 share prices with a loss of £9billion for the 200 largest UK privately sponsored pension schemes.

Financial observers worldwide agreed that “Meltdown Monday” was the worst financial crisis since the 1929 Wall Street Crash which lead to the Great Depression and will have far reaching consequences.

Chief executive of the financial information brokers Tullett Prebon, Terry Smith, said of the crisis, “It may be past time to panic already. These are certainly seismic events.” Market strategist Art Hogan said: “This is unprecedented.”

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