Unemployment rises again

Unemployment was up again, official figures show.

Under the Labour Force Survey count, it was up by 70,000 to 2.56 million in the three-month period ending February. It follows on from a rise in the period ending January. The unemployment rate was also up to 7.9% from 7.7% in the previous three-month period.

The pain was equally shared among the sexes. The number of unemployed men was up by 37,000 to 1.45 million and their unemployment rate is up to 8.3% from 8.1%.

Unemployed women’s numbers were up by 33,000 to 1.12 million and their unemployment rate rose to 7.5% from 7.3%.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady said chancellor George Osborne should “reverse course by investing for growth and jobs”. This would not only get the economy moving again but would also bring down the deficit more quickly in the medium term.

On the other main jobless measure — the claimant count which only includes those people on Jobseeker’s Allowance — unemployment fell by 7,000 to over 1.53 million in March.

Male claimant numbers fell below the 1 million mark to 999,300, but their joblessness rate was steady at 5.6%.

The number of women benefit claimants fell by 1,300 to 531,700, but their joblessness rate remained at 3.4%.