Unemployment has reached a 17 year high, figures revealed today.

Youth unemployment reached a record high of 991,000 in the latest quarter to August, while unemployment increased by 114,000 to 2.57 million, according to data from the Office for National Statistics.

The numbers claiming jobseeker's allowance increased for the seventh month in a row, to 1.6 million, while other figures showed a 178,000 slump in employment in the quarter to August – the biggest fall in more than two years – and the largest-ever fall in the number of part-time workers, down by 175,000.

About 150,000 people were made redundant in the latest three months, an increase of 6,000 over the previous quarter. Long-term unemployment, counting everyone out of work for more than a year, rose by 60,000 to 867,000.

Some unemployed people in Bradford today told the Telegraph & Argus of their search to find work.