The number of Britons claiming unemployment benefit saw its biggest monthly rise in March in nearly two years, official data showed today, figures that are sure to be unwelcome to a government fighting an election campaign.
Bigger City bonuses also pushed up annual earnings growth in the three months to February but underlying pay growth eased back slightly, according to the Office for National Statistics, suggesting that wage inflation remains benign.
The ONS said the claimant count measure of unemployment surged by 11,000 in March, its biggest one-month increase since May 2003 and confounding expectations of a fall of 3,000.
February's small drop was revised to a increase of 3,900, marking the first back-to-back monthly rises in this measure since September-October last year and pushing the jobless rate up to 2.7 per cent from 2.6 per cent previously.
At the same time, the more internationally-recognised ILO measure of unemployment rose, climbing 29,000 on the quarter, pushing up the ILO jobless rate to 4.8 per cent from 4.7 per cent.