Unemployment in the UK has reached an 11-year high with the number of people out of work rising by 140,000 to 1.82m.

According to official figures released today in the three months to September the unemployment rate rose to 5.8%, an increase of 0.4% from the previous quarter.

The number of people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance jumped by over 36,000 to 980,900 in October - the highest monthly increase since 1992.

These figures do not take into account recent job losses, including yesterday's announcement of more than 5,000 cuts by a number of companies.

Firms including Virgin Media, Yell, GlaxoSmithKline and Taylor Wimpey all announced large redundancies, with Virgin Media alone axing 2,200 jobs in Britain.

Economists are predicting that the UK unemployment rate will rise above 2m early next year.