Despite recently released official data showing that unemployment has risen more steeply than in the recession of the 1990s Britain's jobs market is likely to bounce back sharply, according to the Institute for Employment Studies (IES).

Figures from the Office of National Statistics recently revealed that the jobless rate has risen 1.3% to 7.1% - more than the 0.9% rate rise in the first three quarters of the 1990-91 recession. However, despite these figures the IES remain hopeful that the UK job market will pick up.

"I think the labour market is in better shape now than in either of the previous recessions. For any given fall in economic activity we are likely to be surviving it better than we were in previous recessions and we are likely to bounce back slightly more quickly," said Nigel Meager of the IES.