Some 188,000 factory workers will lose their jobs this year – more than 40,000 above what was forecast just two months ago. Alongside its latest grim prediction on jobs, the manufacturers' organisation EEF is forecasting an 11 per cent contraction in output over 2009, an estimate revised downwards by two percentage points after worse-than-expected falls in activity in the first quarter of the year.
Today's bleak forecast comes despite the 11th-hour, weekend rescue deal for General Motors Europe by the Canadian motor parts group Magna International. The deal for GM Europe, which includes Vauxhall in Britain and Opel in Germany, came ahead of its parent GM filing for bankruptcy protection in the US today.
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