Rise in British unemployment level continues

The British government was given more bad economic news today when unemployment jumped by 60,000 and the number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance increased at the highest monthly rate for more than 15 years.

The jobless total grew to 1.67 million in the three months to June, the worst for over a year, giving a new unemployment rate of 5.4%, up by 0.2% on the previous quarter.