Jobless rise by 118,000 to highest level for 17 years

In Yorkshire, the number of people without a job rose by 11,000 within the three month period, meaning one in 10 people in the region are unemployed – a total of 270,000. Nationally, more than one in eight people are without a job – taking the total unemployment figure to 2.68 million.

Women were shown to be badly affected in Yorkshire, with a nine per cent rise in unemployment over the quarter.

The Office for National Statistics figures revealed that across the country young people in particular are struggling in the difficult economic climate, with the number of unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds increasing by 52,000 to 1.04 million, the highest since records began in 1992.

At Prime Minister’s Questions, David Cameron said the latest grim unemployment figures are “hugely unwelcome” and that he would go “further and faster” to help people back in to work.

He said: ”The Government takes absolute responsibility for everything that happens in our economy and I take responsibility for that.

“Any increase in unemployment is disappointing and it’s obviously a tragedy for the person who becomes unemployed and can lead to real difficulty for that family and that is why we are taking so much action to try and help people to get back into work.”

The findings come as part-nationalised Lloyds Banking Group announced 700 job cuts across the UK, including around 70 in the Yorkshire region. Clothing chain Peacocks also fell into administration putting 9,600 jobs at risk.

But the figures also revealed that employment rose, mainly due to fewer women looking after a family or home and fewer retired people under of the age of 65.

Mr Cameron said: “If you look at the figures today, I think it is noteworthy that, while the increase in unemployment is hugely unwelcome, there is still an increase in the number of people employed – another 18,000 people in work.

“What that shows is that we need more private sector employment, we need to move further and faster on that agenda.”

Hull North MP Diana Johnson said: “The Coalition’s Government’s whole approach to deficit reduction and growth relies on creating new private sector jobs to replace those cut in the public sector. But we’ve lost 40,000 private sector jobs in our region, including many skilled ones.”