UNEMPLOYMENT reached a 17-year high after another 128,000 joined the jobless ranks – taking the total to 2.64m.

A series of grim figures delivered a pre-Christmas blow to the Government, with youth and female unemployment showing big rises and the number of people claiming jobseeker’s allowance increasing for the ninth month in a row.

Travel giant Thomas Cook added to the gloom by announcing more than 600 job losses and 115 shop closures.

Among local parliamentary constituencies, the claimant count for Huddersfield stood at 2,631 last month, up by 220 on November last year. Colne Valley was up by 173 at 1,792 while Dewsbury was 134 higher than a year ago at 1,751.

Quarterly unemployment in Yorkshire rose by about 9,000 to 253,000 or 9.5% of the workforce.

UK employment fell by 63,000 in the quarter to October to 29.11m, while the number of people working in the public sector dipped below 6m for the first time since 2003.