Unemployment up over autumn

The rate of unemployment increased again last autumn, according to new figures that will concern developed vetting cleared individuals looking for jobs.

Data from the Office of National Statistics indicates that there were 2.68 million people out of work between September and November 2011, which was up 118,000 on the quarter.

Moreover, the share of the economically active population who were unemployed climbed by 0.3 percentage points to 8.4 per cent for this period, which is the highest it has been since January 1996.

On the other hand, there was some improvement in the number of people in work rising by 18,000 to 29.12 million during the three months to November.

Commenting on these new figures, Prime Minister David Cameron told the House of Commons: "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".

Mr Cameron did nonetheless cite the rise in the number of employed people and in private sector employment and a small fall in the number of long-term unemployed as a sign of some positivity.

However, opposition leader Ed Miliband accused the government of "cutting too far and too fast", adding that its "defining characteristic...[is] that it stands aside and does nothing as thousands of people find themselves unemployed".

Young people have been particularly badly hit, with the proportion of 16-to-24 year olds not in full time education who are out of work rising by 0.5 percentage points to 20.7 per cent.

Furthermore, the number of unemployed women also crept up by 59,000 to 1.13 million over the three months to November 2011.

Despite Mr Miliband's criticism of the government's policies, he did state on the BBC's Andrew Marr Show earlier this month that he could not commit to reversing any of its cuts, arguing that the mistakes  it had already made meant to do so would now be unaffordable.

This includes the recently extended pay freeze for security cleared public sector workers, which he said would need to stay in place, or else the rate of unemployment could climb even higher.