The Government was given grim jobs news ahead of the Budget today when new figures showed that unemployment has soared to its highest level since Labour came to power in 1997.
The number of people looking for work jumped by 177,000 in the three months to February to reach 2.1 million - the biggest quarterly rise since 1991.
The total is the worst since February 1997, a few months before Labour won the general election.
The number of people claiming jobseeker's allowance increased for the 13th month in a row in March, up by 73,700 to 1.46 million, the highest total since September 1997.
A raft of other gloomy figures from the Office for National Statistics showed continuing cuts in manufacturing jobs, a record low number of vacancies and the lowest rise in average earnings since 1991.
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