THE unemployment rate has shot up by 10,000 in just three months, official figures showed yesterday.

More than 3,000 people a month, on average, were registered as jobless between May and July this year, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

The total unemployment figure of 1.82 million — 5.5 per cent — was described as “worrying” by the TUC.

Last month, 791,700 people claimed out-of-work benefits.

Around 42,000 people found jobs last month, although most of them were not unemployed but self-employed people taking up part-time positions to supplement their income, the TUC noted.

The spending power of 25.74 million private-sector employees has been boosted by the near-zero rate of inflation and a 2.9 per cent year-on-year rise in wages in the same three months, the ONS added.

But 5.36 million public-sector workers are denied the same perks because, in 2010, Tory Chancellor George Osborne capped pay rises at 1 per cent until 2019.

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady (pictured) said: “It is welcome that private-sector earnings continue to rise, but there is still a long way to go to make up lost ground and the public sector is even further behind.

“We need a stronger and fairer recovery that works for everyone, with more investment in skills, infrastructure and innovation to help better job creation and sustainable pay growth.”

There were 59,000 fewer people employed by the state in June than the same time last year.

The Tories “must do more” to increase the number of secure jobs for unemployed people, especially school-leavers and young adults, said shadow work and pensions secretary Owen Smith.

He added: “Rather than stripping workers of their employment rights and taking thousands of pounds a year out of the pockets of millions of working families across the UK, the government should be backing British workers to bring confidence and optimism back into our workforce.”