Claimant count rises for six months in a row

The number of people claiming unemployment benefit has risen for the sixth month in a row, according to the latest government figures.

The latest claimant count figures show 866,000 Jobseekers Allowance claimants in July 2005, up 2,800 on the month and 27,800 on a year ago.

However, the total number of people in employment remains high at 28.6 million – a fall of 16,000 in the second quarter.

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Vacancies still remain high as employers struggle to fill roles. There were approximately 640,000 unfilled vacancies in May to July, up 7,000 on the previous quarter.

Between April and June there were 127,000 redundancies – the second lowest figure on record.