LONDON -- The number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the U.K. rose much faster than expected in January, pushing the total to its highest in two years.
The Office for National Statistics said Wednesday the claimant count for jobseekers' allowance rose by 6,900 in January, higher than an upwardly revised 1,900 rise in December and far more than the 500 increase anticipated by economists in a Dow Jones Newswires poll.
That put the total number of claimants at 1.61 million, the highest since January 2010.
The ONs' other, internationally comparable measure of unemployment also rose in the final quarter of 2011 from the previous quarter, albeit by the smallest rate since June.
Unemployment on the International Labor Organisation measure rose 48,000 in the three months to December, to total 2.67 million.
That left the rate of unemployment unchanged at 8.4%. The last time it was higher was in the three months to November 1995.
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