{"id":629040,"date":"2026-06-09T10:45:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:45:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629040\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T10:45:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T10:45:20","slug":"two-million-people-set-to-be-unemployed-as-growth-falters-in-uk-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/629040\/","title":{"rendered":"Two million people set to be unemployed as growth falters in UK economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The UK economy <\/a>is poised for a significant downturn, with growth set to falter and unemployment<\/a> projected to worsen, according to new forecasts from the Confederation of British Industry<\/a> (CBI). The influential business group warns that the ongoing conflict in the Middle East<\/a> and escalating energy costs are weighing heavily on consumers and businesses alike.<\/p>\n

The CBI\u2019s latest economic outlook paints a gloomy picture, predicting that an additional 200,000 Britons are on track to become unemployed<\/a>. This would push the UK\u2019s jobless rate to 5.5 per cent this year, equating to approximately two million people. <\/p>\n

The Office for National Statistics <\/a>most recently reported the unemployment rate<\/a> at 5 per cent, or around 1.8 million individuals. Economists at the CBI attribute this weakening labour market to reduced business investment, driven by higher cost inflation and concerns over consumer spending. The forecast suggests a slight improvement to 5.3 per cent unemployment by 2027.<\/p>\n

The organisation has also downgraded its growth projections for the next two years. UK gross domestic product (GDP) is now expected to slow from 1.4 per cent growth last year to 1.1 per cent in 2026, further decelerating to 0.9 per cent in 2027. This marks a notable reduction from previous forecasts, which had anticipated growth of 1.3 per cent this year and 1.5 per cent in 2027.<\/p>\n

\"AroundAround one in eight people aged 16 to 24 in the UK are not in education, employment or training (Alamy\/PA) (Alamy\/PA)<\/p>\n

This downbeat assessment is largely attributed to the repercussions of the Middle East conflict, which has pushed inflation above earlier forecasts and dampened overall sentiment. Higher global energy prices, disrupted supply chains, and increased uncertainty for both businesses and consumers are all expected to impede economic growth.<\/p>\n

Louise Hellem, chief economist at the CBI, commented: “What\u2019s happening around the world is compounding the UK\u2019s low-growth story. We saw weak momentum throughout 2025, but if it weren\u2019t for the latest global shocks, we could be having a much more positive conversation about the economy today. Last year it was tariffs and this year it\u2019s the conflict in the Middle East.”<\/p>\n

The projections further indicate that inflation is likely to climb “towards 4 per cent” by the end of this year, as the impact of higher energy costs filters through to households and firms. UK consumer prices index (CPI) inflation was recorded at 2.8 per cent in April but is anticipated to accelerate in the coming months. <\/p>\n

The CBI also expects the Bank of England to maintain interest rates at their current level of 3.75 per cent for the remainder of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":629041,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,1294,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-629040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629040","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=629040"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/629040\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/629041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=629040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=629040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=629040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}