More than 20,000 people in Norfolk and Waveney are out of work as the latest figures show a fresh rise in unemployment

Unemployment reached a 17-year high today after another 128,000 joined the jobless ranks, taking the total to 2.64m, figures showed today.

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Across Norfolk and North Suffolk there had been a slight increase in the jobless numbers with 20,490 out of work compared to 20,030 last month. Yet year on year the figure is up from 18,815.

The figures also show a spike in the local youth unemployment rate with 6,705 18-to-24 year olds out of work (8pc) compared to 5,730 (6.8pc) last November.

Nationally youth and female unemployment showing big rises and the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance increasing for the ninth month in a row.

Employment fell by 63,000 in the quarter to October to 29.11m, while the number of people working in the public sector dipped below six million for the first time since 2003.

The unemployment rate is now 8.3pc, up 0.4pc on the quarter - the highest since 1996 - while the jobless total is now worse than at any time since 1994.

In Norfolk and Waveney it is now 3.4pc compared to 3.1pc last year.

Unemployment among 16 to 24-year-olds increased by 54,000 to 1.03 million, the highest since records began in 1992.

The Office for National Statistics also reported that women’s unemployment increased by 45,000 to 1.1 million, the highest figure since 1988.

Unemployment reached a 17-year high after another 128,000 joined the jobless ranks, meaning the total number of unemployed is now 2.64 million. Youth unemployment rose to 1.027 million, the highest since records began in 1992.

Bernard Brown, Partner and Head of Business Services at KPMG, said: “The latest figures do nothing to lift the gloom felt by Britain’s young unemployed, or those with plenty of experience to offer. Certainly, their frustrations will only deepen if uncertainties around the Eurozone crisis continue to creep through business and if fears over poor Christmas sales are realised.

“Yet the figures should not be looked at in isolation. They come just a short while after the Chancellor announced a raft of measures designed to kick start the economy. Plans to invest heavily in Britain’s infrastructure, coupled with proposals such as the new Youth Contract and extending apprenticeships, should not go un-noticed. They may not have an immediate effect, but the impact they offer for the medium to long-term cannot not be dismissed.

“Our wider research also suggests that employers are placing some jobs on hold because they are not prepared to fill them unless candidates have the right skills. If job seekers take this to heart and begin to develop their skill set and qualifications, the long-term benefit at an individual and macro-economic level should also be positive.”

Unite general secretary, Len McCluskey said the figures showed that an economic change of direction was needed.

“These disastrous unemployment figures mark a bleak end to 2011. The government’s policies mean things could be even worse in the New Year,” he said. “The government’s claim that the private sector would create hundreds of thousands of jobs was as believable as Father Christmas.

“The coalition’s policies of deep cuts, attacks on the public sector and on our employment rights mean there is little hope things will improve in the New Year.

“There is no sign that the private sector is creating any jobs, and the government has no strategy for manufacturing which should be driving the economy.

“Britain urgently needs a major change in direction. Tragically we will get more of the same or worse.”