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Unemployment at 17 year high, from: Sharecast.com

UK unemployment rose by 128,00 in the three months to October to a reach a total of 2.64m, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The rise was not as big as forecast by some economists, who predicted the figure would come in at 140,000.

However, the number of unemployed people is the highest since 1994, while the unemployment rate, which reached 8.3% of 'economically active' people, was the highest since 1996.

The total number of people in employment was 29.11m between August and October, down 63,000 on previous three months.

The number of people employed in the public sector fell by 67,000 on the quarter to reach 5.99m.

Public sector employment is now down 366,000 since its peak in 2009.

This compared with a rise of 5,000 in private sector on the previous quarter to reach 23.12m.

The government has put its faith in the private sector generating jobs to make up for public sector cuts due to its austerity drive.

Dr Howard Archer, chief UK economist at IHS said that while the data are not as bad as feared overall, this was of limited comfort as they still showed a troubled jobs market.

"Further marked deterioration seems very much on the cards given faltering economic activity and a number of recent surveys pointing to companies scaling back their employment plans ," he said.

The figures revealed a record number of people declaring themselves self-employed.

The total number of self-employed people increased by 166,000 on the quarter to reach 4.14m.

This is the highest number of self-employed people since comparable records began in 1992.

The statistics also highlighted the squeeze on people's incomes.

Total pay (including bonuses) rose by 2.0% on a year earlier, down 0.3% on the three months to September.

Both the private and public sectors showed lower pay growth, further eating into pay in real terms, with the most recent Consumer Prices Index showing prices rising at a rate of 4.8%.

Regular pay (excluding bonuses) rose by 1.8% on a year earlier, up 0.1% on the three months to September