Press Association
Saturday 11th February 2012
The latest unemployment figures are being published amid uncertainty over how quickly the UK job market can recover from the recession.
Figures released by the Office for National Statistics come at a crucial time as the Government braces itself for pre-election sparring over the economy.
On Monday the Bank of England warned of "considerable uncertainty" surrounding the labour market, and said the jobless total could rise if recovery was slower than expected.
This was despite official data which showed a 3,000 fall in unemployment between October and December to 2.46 million.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) also said that the UK is no better than a "mid-table" performer in the EU unemployment league and has a high rate of "hidden" joblessness.
Work and Pensions Secretary Yvette Cooper has already warned that the number of people out of work could rise before the summer.
Chief economic adviser for CIPD John Philpott said: "I don't think the rise in unemployment has come to an end yet. My expectation is that we will see further increases during the course of the spring and summer of this year.
"The big fear is unless you get a fairly robust recovery, that the continued rise in unemployment will be more prolonged and larger in magnitude."
