The number of people unemployed in the UK has edged up further.

For the three months to January, the number of people unemployed was 1,528,000, up 37,000 from the three months to October. This takes the unemployment rate up to 5%, from 4.9%.

The claimant count rose to 919,700 in February, up 14,600 on the month, the biggest rise since 1992. This is up 102,000 on a year earlier.

“This does something to the psychology of employers. It may prompt them to try to pressurise employment agencies on price. They may ask why they're paying such high margins,” said Sue Dodd, director at industry analyst Agile Intelligence.

The number of vacancies was 617,600, up 16,400 from the previous quarter. Dodd says this points to an improving position and that the outlook for the labour market in the medium term is quite strong.