Unions warned yesterday that the “scourge of underemployment” is continuing to rocket despite a drop in official jobless figures.

The final quarter of 2013 saw unemployment fall 125,000 to 2.34 million — a rate of 7.2 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics.

The ONS said more women were in work than at any time since records began in 1971 at just over 14m.

But 1.4 million people are in part-time jobs because they cannot find full-time work, a fall of 29,000 over the latest quarter but still 46,000 higher than a year ago.

Unison general secretary Dave Prentis was disappointed with the figures.

“Sadly, today’s fall in the total number of unemployed masks the scourge of underemployment, which is growing at an alarming rate across the country,” he said.

“Too many people are stuck in minimum-wage jobs, on zero-hours contracts and part-time work when they are desperate to go full-time.

“Desperate because they need regular, secure employment to feed their families without having to resort to food banks, pay their bills without falling into the grip of payday lenders and decent pay to rebuild consumer confidence and grow the economy.

“Growing the economy means giving more workers across the UK a boost to their earnings.”

Employment now stands at more than 30 million, a rate of 72.1 per cent, which is 0.6 per cent higher than a year ago.

There were 8.93 million economically inactive people aged from 16 to 64 including students, the long-term sick, unpaid carers and those who retire early.

The figures also showed 917,000 unemployed 16 to 24-year-olds in the latest quarter, down by 48,000 on the previous three months.

Unite union general secretary Len McCluskey warned that until these youth employment figures dramatically improved there was nothing to celebrate.

He said: “We are still faced with a lost generation of lost hopes and lost potential with one in four 16-24-year-olds still out of work.”