The jobs market in the UK has turned out to be stronger than expected given the scale of the recession, according to Bank of England chief economist Spencer Dale.

Despite the country experiencing the deepest recession for over 50 years and unemployment standing at 2.4 million, it is unlikely to top three million, as many economists had predicted.

"A marked feature of the response of our economy to the current recession is that employment to date has not fallen by as much as we might have feared given the falls in output," said Mr Dale in the foreword to the central bank's Quarterly Bulletin.