Dole queues fall as squeeze tightens on pay

The number of Britons in work has hit an all-time high but workers are paying the price with a brutal wage squeeze, official figures showed today.

Employment jumped 156,000 to 29.73 million in the three months to December — the highest since records began in 1971 — in spite of an “Olympics hangover”.

Unemployment fell by 14,000 to 2.5 million — and by 10,000 in London alone. However, youth unemployment, counting 16 to 24-year-olds, rose 11,000 to 974,000.

Wages grew at an annual rate of just 1.3 per cent at the end of last year, their slowest since 2009.

Last month also saw a larger than expected 12,500 decline in dole claimants, the Office for National Statistics said. But experts fear the demise of High Street names such as HMV and Jessops will add thousands to dole queues.