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  Reg - the facts are the facts...
  
  But - there is some good news underlying the figures...
  
  There are signs the deterioration in the labour market is slowing. The claimant count was up 3,000, while 14,900 was originally forecast by economists - that has to be good news.
  
  In addition for the whole year private sector employment was up 262,000, compared to public sector employment down by 276,000. This shows that the much needed rebalancing of the economy away from the public sector is happening.
  
  I should also point out that as far as the youth unemployment is concerned there is more openness and honesty now about the figures. Under the Labour government, only young people claiming Jobseeker's Allowance for more than six months were classed as long-term unemployed. After 10 months claiming the benefit, most of them were automatically moved onto a training "allowance", another type of state benefit.
  
  Whatever Reg prefers to think, unemployment started rising overall back in 2007 with youth unemployment leading the way starting much earlier.

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