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The construction industry was hit by 31,000 redundancies in the three months leading to October, the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics revealed today.

Data from the latest Labour Market Statistics showed redundancies across the industry had more than doubled since the period between April and June, which saw 13,000 redundancies.

In the same three-month period up to October last year, the figure was less than 10,000.

Construction has been one of the sectors hardest hit by the economic downturn, second only to finance and business, which saw 34,000 employees lose their jobs in this period.

For every person made redundant, there is an equal number of people simply being laid off who do not appear on these figures

Alan Ritchie, Ucatt

Unions warn that the actual number of industry employees out of work could be higher, Alan Ritchie, general secretary of construction union Ucatt, said: 鈥淭hese figures only tell part of the story. For every person made redundant, there is an equal number of people simply being laid off who do not appear on these figures.鈥�

He added: 鈥淭hese high levels of redundancies and lay-offs require the government to take additional action to help confidence return to the industry. We believe that this can be best done through heavy investment in social housing.鈥�

Today's figures come with the news that unemployment has risen to 1.86 million, an increase of 137,000 in the three months to October. The unemployment rate is now at 6%, the highest level since 2007.