A fresh wave of redundancies hit the British economy today after a series of companies revealed plans to cut almost 4,000 jobs as Gordon Brown announced an emergency £500 million proposal to help the long-term unemployed back into work.

JCB, the machinery giant, said this afternoon that it was cutting nearly 700 jobs because of the lack of credit available from banks and continuing low confidence in the construction industry.

The construction machinery manufacturer said that its customers could not get enough credit, and Government-funded construction projects were not moving forward quickly enough.

Hours earlier, Land of Leather, the furniture retailer, collapsed and put 1060 jobs at risk as it fought to find a buyer while Waterford Wedgwood, the fine china and glass maker, said it would axe 367 staff from its 1,900-strong UK operations. Last week, Waterford Wedgwood went bust under £415 million of debt.

It also emerged today that Wincanton, the logistics company, will make 1,000 of its staff redundant at Manchester and Gloucester through a merger with Culina while the company that makes Findus's frozen foods in the UK collapsed, putting 420 jobs at risk.

There are currently 1.86 million people out of work in the UK and economists expect unemployment to hit 3 million by 2010.

This morning, Gordon Brown announced plans to offer companies “golden hellos” worth up to £2,500 when they take on someone who has been out of work for longer than six months.

In an effort to stimulate the economy, 75,000 training places will be created for the long-term unemployed and there will be funding for jobless people to set up businesses.

Land of Leather, which had 106 stores, is the latest furniture retailer to have gone bust following a steep downturn in customer spending.

Shares in Land of Leather, which had slumped to 2.75p, were suspended this morning over uncertainty about its financial position.

Other retailers had culls with bookseller Waterstones planning 200 cuts while the Financial Times said it was cutting 85 staff as advertising revenues plummet.

Last year MFI, ScS, Rosebys and The Pier collapsed after the downturn in the housing market meant that fewer people were moving house and, therefore, buying fewer "big ticket" items, such as sofas.

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