NORTHERN Ireland unemployment rose by 800 in August to 87,500 or 11.3 per cent of the workforce, according to seasonally adjusted figures released yesterday. Economy Minister, Baroness Denton, said the figures reflected the "enormous effect of the BSE crisis and the violence this summer which has reduced confidence".

British unemployment fell in August for the sixth month running, to its lowest level since March 1991. The seasonally adjusted total was down 15,600 to 2,110,400, compared with a fall of 24,300 in July, according to the Office for National Statistics.