Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the claimant count rate rose by 73,700 in March.

Commenting on the figures, Hugo Sellert, head of economic research at Monster Worldwide, says: “Overall, online recruitment in the UK has fallen once again.  There is cause for optimism, however, in some sectors. Hiring of education and production workers rose in March and healthcare has shown encouraging annual growth.”

John Philpott, chief economist at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), adds: “The latest official figures confirm the marked deterioration in the UK jobs outlook since the turn of the year. This makes it now inevitable that around 1 in 10 people in the jobs market will be unemployed by spring 2010.”