There has been a rise in the number of households in which no-one goes to work, official figures have shown.

The ONS revealed that the workless household rate has increased 1.1 per cent over the last year, making it the highest rate since 1999.

In total, 3.3 million of the country’s homes have no adult in employment, with the rate highest in single parent households.

Homeowners in north-east England are worst affected, with the lowest rate seen in the east of England.

Neil Carberry, head of employment policy at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), recently said that the worst unemployment figures always follow shortly into an economic recovery.

"While [employers] are perhaps ceasing to make redundancies whilst the economic recovery is underway, the other [are] feeling ready to hire," he stated.

The CBI recently found that economy may be stabilising after a steep fall of output at the start of the year.

It forecast marginal quarterly growth at the start of 2010, with momentum building to around trend rate by the end of the year.