Unemployment has rea-ched its worst level for almost a decade, figures released today reveal.

There were 1.72 million people out of work in the three months to July, up by 81,000 from the previous quarter and the highest total since the spring of 1999.

The number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance also surged for the seventh month in a row in August, by 32,500 to 904,900 – the biggest monthly hike since December 1992.

Across the Black Country and Staffordshire hundreds of people joined the jobless queues.

In Dudley the number claiming the allowance rose 402 to 6,046, in Sandwell it increased to 7,937, in Walsall it jumped 271 to 6,115, in Wolverhampton it lifted 355 to 7,735, in the Kidderminster area it rose 136 to 1,257, and was 75 up in Stafford at 1,197.