British unemployment

Unemployment rises sharply, official figures show

The government has repeatedly pointed to job creation by the private sector as reassuring news in the face of the slowdown

Guardian,

Wednesday 17 August 2011 19.42 BST

David Cameron’s hopes that rising job prospects would help to draw a line under the social unrest on Britain's streets have been dashed by the latest official figures, which reveal a sharp increase in unemployment.

The government has repeatedly pointed to job creation by the private sector as reassuring news in the face of the slowdown in economic growth over the past nine months. But the Office for National Statistics revealed that unemployment jumped by 38,000 to 2.49 million in the three months to June on the government's preferred measure which includes all those out of work and actively looking for a job. The increase would cancel out the 30,000 jobs George Osborne hopes to create with his new enterprise zones, 11 more of which have been were announced. The unemployment rate rose to 7.9%, from 7.8% in the previous quarter.

On the more timely claimant count measure, unemployment was up by 37,100 on a month earlier – the biggest increase since February 2009, when the economy was deep in recession.

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