Unemployment hits 15-year high

Unemployment has increased to its highest level in almost 15 years, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics.

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.