UK unemployment climbs to a staggering 2.43 million as the recession continues to take hold.

Official figures show that the number of unemployed people in the UK has risen by 220,000 to 2.43 million in the three months to June 2009.

According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of jobless people in the UK has reached its highest level since 1995.

The employment rate is now 72.7%, down 0.9% over the quarter and down 2% from a year earlier. The number of people in employment for the three months to June was 28.93 million, 573,000 less than June 2008.

The number of people claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance has also risen by 24,900 in June to 1.58 million, the highest number since May 1997.

Job vacancies also shrunk over the quarter with only 427,000 positions open in the three months to July 2009. This is the lowest figure since comparable records began in 2001. Most sectors have noticed a drop in vacancies with the finance and business sector suffering the most.

Lord Mandelson, when interviewed by BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, said: “The questions is, what is the Government doing about it and what would be the level of unemployment if the Government had not intervened in the economy in the way in which we have?”

Analysts are pessimistic about the next quarter results as a fresh crop of school leavers and university graduates join the job market this summer.