British prime minister Gordon Brown pledged today to spend £500 million on aid for the long-term unemployed as layoffs piled up at retailers in the worst downturn in almost two decades.
Unemployment in Britain is already at a decade-high and set to climb further as the country goes into its first recession since the early 1990s. Some experts predict the jobless total could hit three million.
"We know that any action we take has costs. But the biggest cost of all would be the cost of doing nothing," Mr Brown, who must fight an election in less than 18 months, told industry leaders at a special summit to discuss jobs.
"That would mean lasting damage to our economy and a bigger bill to pay in the future. This will not happen on my watch."
Companies will get £2,500 pounds for recruiting people who have been unemployed for more than six months. The money was already allocated as part of the government's £20 billion fiscal stimulus package announced in November.
Mr Brown said the government would help employers who took on new staff, help young people with new apprenticeships and offer aid to people starting their own businesses.
He promised plans for investment in environment, technology and infrastructure and said there were some 500,000 vacancies in the economy -- the trick was to get people into them.
Mr Brown also said further measures to increase bank lending for small businesses would be announced this week.
Reuters