Purnell: Jobless rise slower than Nineties

A cabinet minister today claimed that unemployment is rising slower than in the last recession.

Work Secretary James Purnell argued that tougher measures to help people get back into employment meant the jobless total was increasing at a slower rate than during the recession in the early Nineties. Official figures due out tomorrow are expected to show unemployment rising to over two million with London the worst hit because of the impact the economic downturn has on the City.

However, a report today by Oxford Economics argued that the North and the Midlands will also suffer from the recession which will see 1.3 million jobs lost between last year and next year.

The report said that, although employment levels in London and the South-East could recover to pre-recession levels within five years the same recovery could take more than a decade in the North, the West Midlands and Wales.

Unemployment actually fell by 33,000 in London year-on-year in the last three months of last year, according to the Labour Force Survey. Mr Purnell stressed his officials had concluded that the unemployment count was "lower than it would have been had the Nineties' trends been repeated".

Mr Purnell is backing a call for thousands of blind people to get an extra £1,500 a year in benefits.

The move to make those with severe visual impairment eligible for the higher rate of Disability Living Allowance as Labour MPs are gearing up to rebel over some of the hardline measures in the Government's Welfare Reform Bill.