Employment levels soar but record 8million have given up looking for work

The ranks of the 'hidden unemployed' have swollen to nearly eight million, figures showed yesterday.

The number of 'economically inactive' adults, who do not show up on official unemployment statistics, has risen by 190,000 this year.

It means the total of jobless Britons - including both the economically inactive and the unemployed who are looking for jobs - is now 9.62million.

Figures for economic inactivity show the numbers of those who have bowed out of the jobs market for reasons of sickness or 'discouragement'.

These include those who rely on state sickness benefits, those who have given up looking for work, students and mothers who bring up their children full-time.

The figures from the Office for National Statistics showed that the number of people classed as economically inactive rose to 7.97million in the three months to August, up 190,000 over the previous 12 months.

However, the number of those classed as unemployed actually fell by 47,000 to 1.65million.

Tory work and pensions spokesman Chris Grayling said: "Once again these figures show you can't trust Gordon Brown when he talks about getting people back into work.

"When you read the small print on what is really going on behind the headlines, you find that more and more people are dropping out of the system, and that the number of people in work is falling."

But employment Minister Caroline Flint said a strong and stable economy had meant record numbers in work.