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British jobless claims highest for four and a half years

The claimant count rose by 2,000 from June to 957,000 people — the highest level since January 2002, when it stood at 958,200 -- according to data published by the Office for National Statistics.

The figure is slowly nearing the politically-sensitive 1.0-million mark, which was last reached in January 2001.

However, the ONS also revealed that the number of people in work rose by 42,000 over the three months to June, to 28.94 million — the highest figure since comparable records began in 1971.

“The data continue to show both employment and unemployment rising as the recently improved growth in the economy is still not generating enough jobs to meet the expanding labour force,” said Global Insight economist Howard Archer.

Britain’s unemployment rate stood at 3.0 percent in July, unchanged from the previous month but was 0.3 percentage points higher than a year earlier.

In June, the monthly claimant count rose by 4,300, downwardly revised from the original estimate of 5,600.

Meanwhile, the number of unemployed in Britain, as measured by the International Labour Organisation, rose by 92,000 to 1.677 million in the three months to June.

That marked the highest level since February 2000 when the figure stood at 1.682 million people. Analysts’ consensus forecast had been for no change.

The unemployment rate, as measured by the ILO, rose to 5.5 percent during the same period, the highest level since June 2000.

Elsewhere, the ONS found wage pressures creeping up slightly during June.

It said headline earnings, including bonus payments, rose 4.3 percent in the three months to June from the previous year — an increase of 0.2 percentage points from the May reading.

The spike in headline earnings took the rate to its highest level since April 2005 when it stood at 4.4 percent.

Stripping out bonuses, average earnings in the three months to June rose by 3.9 percent, up 0.1 percentage points on the previous period.