Less than two weeks on from Chancellor Gordon Brown’s slashing of his annual growth forecasts, the UK economy received a further setback on the publication of mixed employment rate figures.

Latest research from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) revealed that the count of individuals claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance in the UK increased for the tenth successive month, to 902,000 – a 10,500 increase between October and November.

Moreover the figures suggest that unemployment is beginning to accelerate, with the number of out of work individuals rising by 72,000 in the three months to October (and by 97,000 over the past year) to 1.49 million. The greatest increase was noted amongst 18-24 year-olds.

There were positives too, most noticeably news that the number of people in employment also rose by 58,000 over the quarter and by 326,000 for the year as whole to £28.81 million. That said, a separate report by the ONS revealed that increases in average earnings are cooling slightly as well. For the year to October average earnings (including bonuses) increased by 3.6 per cent. This was down from 4.1 per cent in September.