MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

UK unemployment hits 2.69 million (8.4%), highest since January 1996

Labour leader Ed Milliband said government “was cutting too far and too fast”

UK unemployment rose by 118,000 in the three months to November to 2.69 million, official figures show. The Office of National Statistics (ONS) said the unemployment rate also rose to 8.4% from 8.3%, the highest since January 1996.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance in December rose by 1.200 to 1.6 million. The number of young people looking for work hit a new record of 1.043m, taking the rate for 16-24 year-olds to 22.3%.

The number of people in employment rose slightly in the three months to November by 18,000 to 29.12 million.

The figures support the picture of a flat UK economy, with other data released on Wednesday showing average weekly earnings, including bonuses, grew at just 1.9%.

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, said the figures were not good news: “Any increase in unemployment is disappointing and obviously a tragedy for the person who becomes unemployed - that is why we are taking action to get people back to work”.

He pointed to an increase in the number of people in work, to new private sector jobs and a small fall in the long-term unemployed.

But the figures showed the private sector was not compensating for job losses in the public sector, with the private sector creating 5,000 in the period, while 67,000 public sector jobs were lost.

The leader of the Labour Party, Ed Miliband, said the government “was cutting too far and too fast” and accused the prime minister of being “out of touch”, boasting about rising employment.

“Isn't the truth, the defining characteristic of this government, that it stands aside and does nothing as thousands of people find themselves unemployed?” he told the House of Commons.

In Scotland, the number of people out of work rose by 19,000 to 231,000 over the three months to November, giving a jobless rate of 8.6%.

In Wales, unemployment fell by 1,000 in the quarter to 130,000, giving a rate of 8.9%, while in Northern Ireland it fell by 7,000 to 59,000, giving a jobless rate of 6.8%.