The number of people out of work in the UK rose to 1.92 million in November and now stands at 6.1%, with redundancies at their highest levels since 1995.

Latest figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show the number of unemployed people in the UK rose by 131,000 over the quarter and 290,000 over the year to reach 1.92 million, the highest figure since September 1997.

The figures show the redundancy level for the three months to November 2008 was also up, now standing at 225,000, the highest level since 1995.

And annual growth rate in average earnings including bonuses has also begun to fall, now at 3.1% down 0.2% from the three months to October. Excluding bonuses, the figure remains unchanged at 3.6%

Employment for the three months to November 2008 fell to 29.39 million, down 26,000 over the quarter but up 25,000 over the year.

While there has been a fall over the quarter of 89,000 people in full-time employment, the number of people in part-time employment has increased by 63,000.

Richard Lambert, CBI Director-General said: “These numbers are as bad as we expected and are sadly going to get worse. The combination of falling demand and global credit constraints is pushing unemployment sharply higher."