Official figure published later today are expected to show a rise in unemployment in the UK. The TUC predicts a rise of at least 30,000 people, pushing unemployment to around 1.75 million.

The government has raised an extra £100m to re-train workers expected to lose there jobs as the economy slows down.

The extra cash would be given to sectors that are “experiencing significant job losses”, it said.

Between May and July, the number of unemployed rose by 81,000 to 1.72 million, taking the unemployment rate to 5.5 percent.

The number of those on jobseekers allowance rose by 32,500 in August to 904,000.

Some analysts are predicting that unemployment will rise above two million by Christmas, with one forecast even predicting as high as three million by Christmas 2009.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development said its surveys suggested that the worst is yet to come, with recruitment slowing and redundancies on the rise.

“It’s simply that the crunch effect is intensifying, and will continue to intensify into next year,” said the organisation’s chief economist John Philpott.

“We’ll see hundreds of thousands of jobs being lost, and unemployment is likely to rise, certainly above two million. The question is how much further than that.”

The Work and Pensions Secretary James Purnell said the UK was in “uncertain times”.

“The clear message I want to send to people is that there is help out there if the worst happens and they find themselves unemployed,” he added.

The TUC said the additional funding would be vital.

“There can be no assumption that the people who are losing their jobs will find it easy to get new ones, and they will need all the help they can get with redundancy pay, re-training and personal advice,” said general secretary Brendan Barber.

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