The number of British people out of work and claiming unemployment benefit rose for the fifth month running in June - the longest stretch of increases since the economic slump of 1992.
The Office for National Statistics said claimant count unemployment rose by 8,800 after a rise of 14,000 in May.
That took the jobless rate up to 2.8 per cent as more than 50,000 people have lost their jobs since the start of the year.
Meanwhile, annual average earnings growth slowed more than expected in the three months to May - to a rate of just 4.1 per cent - the weakest since last October - from 4.6 per cent in the prior period.
That slowdown, however, disguised a sharp pick-up in public sector wages. These were up an annual 5.6 per cent on the year in the three months to May.
In May alone, they rose by 7.6 percent - the sharpest rate since August 1992. The ONS said this was because of bonuses paid out to transport, storage and communication workers this May against none a year earlier.
Private sector wages, meanwhile, were rising by just 3.8 percent on the year in the three months to May.