Unemployment has topped 2 million on the widest measure of joblessness, while the claimant count has suffered its biggest jump on record.

The Office for National Statistics today confirmed unemployment rose to almost 2.03 million in the three months to January – the highest in 12 years and a rise of 165,000 from the previous quarter.

That was broadly in line with expectations but the claimant count – which only includes those drawing jobseeker’s allowance – surged by 138,400 last month, easily exceeding the record rise of 118,000 set during the depths of the early-1990s recession.

The January figure was revised to show a rise of 93,500, against the 73,800 reported a month ago. That means the claimant count has surged by around 600,000 in the past year. Records for the claimant count were first kept in 1971.

Source:  guardian.co.uk

Related Items