Jobless total is the highest in 17 years at 2.53 million
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Unemployment in the UK increased by 27,000 in the three months to the end of January to 2.53 million, the highest figure since 1994, figures from the Office for National Statis-tics show.
The unemployment rate was 8% with the inactivity rate at 23.3%. There were 9.33 million inactive people aged from 16 to 64.
Total pay including bonuses rose by 2.3% on a year earlier, with regu-lar pay excluding bonuses increa-sing by 2.2.% in the same period.
The unemployment rate for those aged from 16 to 24 increased by 0.8% on the quarter to reach 20.6%, the highest figure since comparable records began in 1992.
But the number of people claim-ing Jobseeker’s Allowance fell by 10,200 between January and Feb-ruary 2011 to reach 1.45 million.
John Pollock, group board dir-ector for Legal & General’s risk business, says research by its investment management team has highlighted that consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about rising unemployment, with 50% predicting it will increase dur-ing the next 12 months.
He says: “Households are likely to be more worried about losing their jobs than securing a pay rise to cover increasing household costs. More people are likely to struggle to pay household bills and meet mon-thly mortgage payments.”
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