Unemployment at 14 year high

Figures from the Office of National Statistics show construction and finance were the hardest hit sectors as the number of people looking for work rose to 2.47 million.Construction suffered 61,000 job losses during the three months to July as unemployment across the UK jumped to its highest level since 1996.

The ONS said: "There were 31 million workforce jobs in June 2009, down 163,000 on the quarter and down 664,000 over the year. Most sectors showed falls in jobs over the quarter with the largest falls occurring in finance and business services (down 67,000) and construction (down 61,000)."

The official unemployment rate is now 7.9% across all industries. The number of redundancies in the three months to July 2009 was 246,000, down 55,000 over the quarter but up 107,000 over the year.

There were 434,000 job vacancies in the three months to August 2009, down 12,000 over the previous quarter and down 174,000 over the year.