UK jobless rate highest in 10 years

London: Unemployment rose to 6.1 percent in Britain in the September-November quarter, the highest rate in nearly 10 years, the government said Wednesday.

In the same period a year ago, the rate was 5.2 percent, the Office for National Statistics said. The latest rate was 0.4 point higher than in the previous three months. The last time the rate was higher was in February-April 1999 when it was 6.2 percent. There were 530,000 job vacancies in October-December quarter, the lowest figure since the agency began keeping records in 2001. The number of vacancies was down 69,000 from the previous three months.