No let up in rise in unemployment

The TUC has warned that unemployment will continue rising for many months after the UK economy has begun to pick up.

And the latest official figures show no let up in the rise in the jobless.

The TUC predicts that the number of people losing their jobs will increase until at least autumn next year. Its analysis shows that there has always been a delay between the economy starting to grow and unemployment beginning to fall. In the last recession, the economy began to grow in the autumn of 1991, but it was 18 months later before unemployment started to fall.

The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show unemployment under the Labour Force Survey count rose by 232,000 to 2.26 million in the three months to April compared with the previous three-month period.

The increase in jobless numbers helped push the unemployment rate up to 7.2% from 6.5%.

The number of jobless men rose by 158,000 to 1.38 million and their unemployment rate was up to 8.1% from 7.1%.

Meanwhile, unemployment among women rose by 74,000 to 885,000 and their unemployment rate went up to 6.2% from 5.6%.

The claimant count, just those who can claim Jobseeker’s Allowance, rose by 39,300 to 1.54 million.