New rise in dole queue

Unemployment today soared to almost 2.5 million - as the Black Country was named Britain's jobless hotspot.

There are now 2.47 million people out of work, the highest level for almost 15 years, and it could hit three million by next year.

Another 210,000 people were added to the unemployment statistics in the three months to July.

Fears are now growing of a 'lost generation' of young people as the number of 16-24-year-olds out of work edged closer to 1m, with nearly one in every five of them jobless.

The national total unemployment rate is now 7.9 per cent, up 0.7 per cent on the previous three months. The figure for the West Midlands is 10.5 per cent, or 282,000 people - the worst region for in the country.

The number of people claiming jobseekers' allowance rose by 1,300.

In Wolverhampton, 8.1 per cent of the working population are now claiming the allowance, up 285 to 11,670.

In Dudley the number rose 388 to 11,070, or six per cent; Sandwell was up 515 to 13,467, or 7.7 per cent; in Walsall 184 more people claimed, taking the figure to 11,068 or 7.4 per cent; in Kidderminster and Wyre Forest seven more people claimed, taking the figure to 2,635 or 4.4 per cent; in South Staffordshire it rose 81 to 2,268 or 3.5 per cent.

Stafford saw an increase of 79 to 2,279, or three per cent, while in Lichfield the count rose by just three to 2,029 or 3.5 per cent.

In Cannock Chase the figure dropped by 21 to 3,064, 5.2 per cent.

The figures from the Office of National Statistics showed the number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance nationally in August increased by 24,400 to 1.61 million, the highest since May 1997. Economist Howard Archer, of IHS Global Insight, warned: "Unemployment still looks likely to reach three million in 2010, and could go higher."