Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer, is to cut 800 jobs across western Europe, 10% of its 8,000 workforce in the region.

The firm said the move was a response to falling beer sales, with the layoffs spread across Belgium, Germany, the UK, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

The news trigged protests at the firm’s brewery in the Belgium town of Leuven, where it also has its headquarters.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s brands include Becks, Budweiser and Stella Artois.

There are now just under four million unemployed in Spain

Unemployment in Spain rose by 794,640 over 2009 and now stands just short of four million at 3,923,602, a number 25.4% higher than a year ago.

The numbers come from the Ministry for Employment, and are the highest seen since 1996 when comparable counting systems were introduced.

Unemployment will peak at 2.8 million in 2010, according to the latest forecast from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

The business group said unemployment would continue to rise for the first six months of the new year, despite the recovery in the UK economy.

The forecast is more optimistic than previous predictions.

Earlier this year, the CIPD had said it expected unemployment to peak at 3.2 million as a result of the recession.

Record numbers of people have seen their pay frozen or cut as firms fight the recession and stave off redundancies, according to internal Treasury figures.

Others have voluntarily moved to part-time positions rather than lose their jobs, with official statistics showing a record one million people who want to work full time are now unable to secure anything other than reduced hours work.

The increase is an improvement on the same month last year

The Spanish Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, speaking to Congress on Wednesday has admitted that ‘We cannot continue with a breach of unemployment which is so high’.

He made the comment as he was presenting the new Government’s plans under the new Sustainable Economy Law, which intends to change the productive model of the Spanish economy, and also announced a new package of measures which will come into effect in this legislature.

Official figures showed that the number of people out of work increased by 30,000 between July and September to just under two and a half million.

Alan Clarke, UK economist at BNP Paribas said: “It was quite a pleasant surprise that we lost fewer jobs than the consensus forecast and certainly much, much better than the batting average we had in recent months.”

The number of people unemployed in the UK rose again in the three months to September, although the 30,000 increase was the smallest since May 2008.

Unemployment totalled 2.46 million in the quarter, said the Office for National Statistics (ONS). The jobless rate remained at 7.8%.

However, the youth unemployment rate rose to 19.8%, a record high.

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit rose by 12,900 to 1.64 million in October.

The rise is however half the amount seen in the same month last year

Unemployment in Spain rose by 98,906 in October in what was the third consecutive monthly increase.
It takes the number out of work, according to the Ministry for Employment, to 3,808,353. Male unemployment was up by 2.8%, while female was up by 2.4%, and all sections of the economy saw an increase, led by the services sector which saw 62,447 join the dole queues.

Unemployment levels across the 16 countries that use the euro rose to 9.7% in September, the highest rate since January 1999.

This brought the number of people unemployed across the eurozone region to 15.3 million.

The rate across all 27 members of the European Union rose to 9.2%, with 286,000 more people now jobless.

This brings the total to 22.12 million.

Spain has the highest eurozone unemployment rate at 19.3%.

Recession-hit Spain’s unemployment rate stood at twice the eurozone average in the third quarter, virtually stable compared to the previous three months at 17.93 percent, official data showed on Friday.

In the second quarter, the jobless rate was 17.92 percent, up from 17.36 percent in the first three months of the year.

There were 4.123 million people registered as unemployed at the end of September, 1.524 million more than a year earlier, the National Statistics Institute said.

Five billion Euro will be placed in a new fund for employment and local sustainability

The cabinet approved a series of measures at their meeting on Friday which they say will create jobs for 200,000 long term unemployed.

A 5 billion € fund was approved which will be used to fund local Town Halls under the scheme, which intends to create longer term and better qualified jobs than the earlier Plan E employment creation program.
It will be called the Fund for Employment and Local Sustainability, and will be established from January 1.

Spain’s jobless are taking longer to find a new job, and when they do, their salary is often lower than in their previous employment, according to a study by staffing firm Adecco published Monday.

“One of the immediate effects of the economic downturn of 2008 was an increase of almost two months the average time for workers to find employment,” it said in a statement.

Congress approved emergency payments on Wednesday

Congress on Wednesday voted to pass a new measure which will give the unemployed who still live with their parents the right to claim the Government’s special 420 € monthly payment for a maximum period of six months.

The payment will be made provided that the members of the family do not earn more than 75% of the minimum wage.

The unemployment rate across the 16 countries that use the euro has risen again as the effects of the recession continue to be felt.

August’s seasonally adjusted rate rose to 9.6%, compared with 9.5% in the previous month, official figures show.

The number of people without a job in the eurozone is now 15.2 million.

Despite the fact that many eurozone economies are recovering from recession, economists expect unemployment rates to continue rising.
Highest rates

The number of people unemployed in recession-hit Spain rose in September for the second month in a row, the government said on Friday.

There were 3.709 million job seekers in the country last month, up 80,367, or 2.2 percent, from the level in August, the employment ministry said.

The figure confirms a rise in unemployment that began in August, when the number of jobless jumped 2.4 percent, after three months of declines.

Celestino Corbacho, Minister for Employment, has announced that Spain is to ask for additional funds from the EU Social Cohesion Fund to finance a range of training schemes for unemployed Spaniards. He told the recent OCDE meeting in Paris that Spain did not have the same resources as before and needed short term help to retrain unemployed workers.

The number of people out of work in the UK has risen to its highest level in 14 years, official figures have shown.

Unemployment increased by 210,000 to 2.47m in the three months to July, taking the jobless rate to 7.9%, the Office for National Statistics said.

Claims for unemployment benefit in August grew by 24,400 from July to 1.61m, the highest since May 1997.

Spain’s government said on Friday that it would strive to prevent job losses at the Opel factory in Spain following the announcement by General Motors that it is selling the automaker.

The government “is attempting to ensure that jobs are not lost in Spain” over the move, Finance Minister Elena Salgado told national radio.

Under a deal unveiled on Thursday, General Motors agreed to sell a 55-percent stake in Opel to Canadian auto parts maker Magna and to state-owned Russian lender Sberbank. GM will retain 35 percent and employees the rest.

About 10,000 unemployed immigrants have taken advantage of a Spanish programme to compensate them if they return to their country of origin, Labour Minister Celestino Corbacho said Monday.

The figure includes the number of jobless immigrants who have taken advantage of the so-called “voluntary return programme” as well as their family members, he said during an interview with Onda Cero.

All those to lose their jobs this year will be eligible for the payment

The Government’s new help for the unemployed whose official dole money entitlement has run out has been extended to all those who have lost their jobs this year.

It means that 640,000 unemployed could benefit from the 420€ monthly payment, for a maximum of six months if they undertake to attend training courses. The measure will cost an estimated 1.3 billion €, and has the support of the left wing groups and some nationalist parties including the ERC, BNG, IU, NB, ICV, CiU and CC.