Unemployment in Bury has risen in the past month, new figures show.
Labour market statistics released today show the number of people claiming unemployment benefits in the borough jumped in January to 4,178, from 3,890 the previous month.
That means the rate of unemployment in Bury has jumped from 3.3 per cent to 3.6 per cent.
However, the figure is still lower than this time last year when the number of people out of work in the town stood at almost 5,000.
Union bosses today warned the job picture was set to get much worse in the wake of public sector cuts and with a private sector still struggling to bridge the gap.
Paul Kenny, general secretary of the GMB union, said: "This rise is no surprise since the Government itself, with the vocal support of the bankers who caused the recession, is deliberately creating unemployment with public sector cuts."
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