The government will create "digital jobs" and support the
roll-out of high-speed broadband networks as part of a plan to
fight the recession, the
prime minister said yesterday.
Speaking to the Observer newspaper, Gordon Brown compared his
government's efforts to the US
public infrastructure building programme of the 1930s that some
credit with helping to end the
Depression.
"You could (compare) the digital infrastructure and that form of
communication revolution at a period when we want to stimulate the
economy," he told the paper.
Brown said jobs in "digital industries" would be a priority.
However, 30,000 of the expected 100,000 jobs would be in
construction companies hired to repair schools, the paper
reported.
The Office of National Statistics'
latest
labour report said the unemployment rate rose to 6% or 1.86
million in the quarter to October.
"The number of unemployed people, the unemployment rate and the
claimant count have all increased," it said. In addition, more
people of working age were "inactive", and the number of vacancies
had fallen to 562,000, the lowest since 2001, when records
began.