Unemployment in Britain shot up by almost 10,000 during May, the biggest monthly rise in more than a decade, but the jobless rate held steady at 3.1 per cent, official figures showed today.
Particular gloom was felt in the country's long-beleaguered manufacturing sector, which saw worker numbers fall by 137,000 in the three months to April, the National Statistics office said.
The remaining number of employees in manufacturing jobs, 3.53 million, is the lowest level ever recorded since the data was first recorded in 1984.
The May increase in overall unemployment, the biggest since December 1992, was far more than predicted by economists, who had expected a rise of around 2,000.
The unemployment rate however was unchanged in May at 3.1 per cent of the labour force, the 17th straight month it has stood at this level.
British business groups have called repeatedly in recent months for a cut in interest rates to spur growth, arguing that uncertainty over the Iraq war earlier this year and other factors have badly hit commerce.
They expressed bitter disappointment last week when the Bank of England again opted to keep interest rates at 3.75 per cent in the face of a declining pound.
Under the International Labour Organisation's broader measure, Britain's unemployment rose by 36,000 in the three months to April to 1.5 million.
The ILO figure equates to an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent, unchanged from the previous three months.
AFP