Unemployment hits 15-year high

In the three months to February 2010, unemployment climbed 43,000 to 2.5m. The rate of unemployment is now 8%, the highest since 1996, which total numbers are now at their highest since 1994. However, March saw a sharp fall in unemployment, down 32,900. While the private sector has been making less redundancies, a wave of public sector job losses are now expected following the General Election on 6 May.