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The figures show that in the three months to the end of July the number of people of working age without a job rose by 210,000, taking the number to 2.47 million.
As a result, a growing proportion of the workforce could be searching for ways to earn extra money.
This means the jobless rate now stands at 7.9 per cent and there has also been a jump in the proportion of people applying for unemployment benefits, with this figure climbing to 1.61 million - the highest since May 2007.
Howard Archer, economist at IHS Global Insight, predicted that the figure could rise further next year.
"The sharp overall economic contraction suffered between the second quarter of 2008 and the second quarter of 2009 will continue to weigh down on the labour market," he stated, adding that unemployment is a "lagging indicator" of the state of the economy.
