Unemployment rose by 118,000 between September and November to 2.68 million, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has reported.

The ONS said that the unemployment rate grew to 8.4%, its highest since 1995, and up 0.3% over the quarter.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) is forecasting that the number of people in work in the UK will fall by 120,000 in 2012 despite a continued ‘productivity pause’ and further real pay squeeze, with unemployment rising to 2.85 million and an annual rate of economic growth remaining below 2% until 2014.

Paul Kenny, GMB general secretary, said: “This rise in unemployment was made in Downing Street. The truth is that jobs are haemorrhaging in the public and private sectors and no one in Parliament seems to know what to do to stop this.