Unemployment: an ominous outlook

The East Midlands looks like it's escaped lightly in the latest unemployment figures.
Indeed, we're one of only two regions to have seen a fall.
Everywhere else the figures are on a rising trend, with London – the financial heart of the country – taking a walloping.
Today's figures cover what happened to jobs during the three months between August and October. That, in turn, is a consequence of what happened to business in the run-up to that period.
So there's at least a six-month lag in all this.
I strongly suspect it won't be such a pretty picture around here when the next set of numbers comes out. Money is draining out of the economy and that is already having an inevitable impact.
Since October, a number of manufacturing and construction businesses in the region have been cutting hours, cutting jobs, even falling into administration. Separate figures for Notts show that unemployment rose between October and November.
The statistics show that it is construction, manufacturing, financial and business services, hotels and restaurants that have been suffering.
Nottinghamshire has a presence in all of those sectors, so draw your own conclusions about where the figures may be heading.