Unemployment today rose to 2.26 million, the highest level for 12 years – as the West Midlands was confirmed as Britain’s worst-hit region.

The jobless figure rose by 232,000 as the effects of the recession continue to bite. This region has the highest rate of unemployment – 9.2 per cent compared to the national average of 7.2pc.

Over the last three months another 39,000 people in the region lost their jobs to take the West Midlands’ total to 249,000.

At the same time the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance nationwide last month increased by 39,300 to 1.54 million, said the Office for National Statistics.

The claimant count has almost doubled over the past year and has been rising for the past 15 months.

Across the Black Country the claimant count jumped by nearly 1,000 in May.

In Wolverhampton it rose 321 to 11,321, or 7.9 per cent of the workforce, while in Sandwell it rose 225 to 12,832, or 7.3 per cent.

In Walsall the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance rose 208 to 10,947 or 7.3 per cent, while in Dudley it was up 193 to 10,558, or 5.7 per cent.

In Wyre Forest the claimant count was up 42 to 2,652 or 4.5 per cent.

In Stafford the jobseeker’s allowance count hit 2,230, up 1,202 over the past year, while in South Staffordshire it was up 1,091 since last May to 2,137, or 3.3 per cent.

In Cannock Chase the claimant count has risen by 1,931 over the past year to 3,139, or 5.3 per cent, and in Lichfield it is up 1,221 since last May to 1,998 or 3.4 per cent.

Meanwhile, the number of people in work nationally fell by 271,000 over the three months to 29.11 million, the biggest quarterly slump since comparable records began in 1971.