The number of Britons claiming jobless benefit rose by less than expected in March, although the total in unemployment number surged higher, while British government borrowing hit a record high, data showed today.
Official data from the Office for National Statistics showed the number of claimants rose by 73,700 in March, well below forecasts for a rise of 120,000.
This brought the number of people claiming jobless benefits in the UK last month to 1.46 million and the unemployment rate for the three months to February to 6.7 per cent to its highest since early 1997, just before the Labour government took office.
In Northern Ireland the numbers claiming job seeker's allowance in NI has increased to 43,900, an increase of 1,900 in the past month bringing the unemployment rate for the first quarter of 2009 to 5.7 per cent.
British finance minister Alistair Darling is expected to announce a £2 billion package aimed at preventing school and university leavers from joining the dole queue and boosting services for the unemployed.
However, the government's ability to kick-start Britain's recession-hit economy with further large-scale fiscal stimulus is limited by the sharp deterioration in the public finances.
Government borrowing in the 2008/09 tax year totalled 89.958 billion pounds, much higher than the £77.6 billion forecast in the government's pre-budget report last November, and the highest since records began in 1946/47.