The UK's unemployment rate rose to 5.5% in the three months to June, the highest in six years, said the Office for National Statistics.

The rise takes the number of people unemployed up to 1.68m. The rate is up from 5.2% for the three months to March, and compares with 4.8% a year ago.

There are now just 3.06m jobs in manufacturing, another record low. The number is down 103,000 on a year earlier.

The claimant count for July was 957,000, up 2,000 on the previous month.

However, the number of people in full-time employment rose 42,000 in the quarter to June, to 21.6m. The total employment level was 28.94m, also up 42,000.

Keith Faulkner, managing director of Working Links, told Recruiter: "The market is stronger than the headlines suggest." Working Links, a public-private venture partly owned by Manpower, focuses on finding work for the long-term unemployed. Faulkner said more older workers were trying to find work. Pensions shortfalls have reduced early retirement options.

Dr John Philpott, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, also believes the figures overall point to a recovering jobs market. He said: "The number of temporary employees and self-employed has fallen suggesting that employers are becoming confident enough to recruit permanent staff rather than rely on contract workers."