Unemployment in the UK rose by 48,000 in the last quarter of 2011, reaching 2.67 million, some 8.4% of the active population. This is the highest level of unemployment for 17 years, and provides yet further evidence that, like the rest of Europe, the aggregate spending in the UK is not sufficient to create new jobs or to save existing ones. Over 60% of the increase in unemployment can be accounted for by women, with youth employment and the public sector also being hit hard. The figures, published by the ONS this week, would have been worse were it not for the rise in part-time employment.